Opposite Madness
by MaBre85
Summary: A vast, all-destroying storm in front of her. One last kiss goodbye. Standing on the cliffs, Max has made the decision to travel back in time and undo everyhing she had fought for five days. She was ready to sacrifice her love for a town. But as a lightning strikes her during the time-jump, she finds herself in another reality, where some things are...very different.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:**

**Hi there, dear LiS fanfic readers!**

**So, I've been thinking and working on a new story/AU for LiS and wann put out some chapters to see, if you wanna read more of this or not.**

**I'm already looking forward to your reviews and thoughts!**

**A little warning: If you've already read my other stories, you should be aware that they have a tendency to turn a bit dark, though I try to don't overdo it here...yet.**

* * *

**Opposite Madness**

**Chapter 1**

The fury storm whipped cold rain droplets right into her face. She was already drenched to the bones, but Max Caulfield didn't care. The small, skinny brunette with the chin-long hair and freckles, dressed in her simple blue jeans and a grey hoodie over a black shirt was just too mesmerized by the vast tornado that was heading straight towards her hometown, Arcadia Bay, ready to destroy everything in its way.

Beside her, stood her best friend, Chloe Price. Like Max, the blue-haired, lanky punk-girl witnessed this object of pure destructive power. In contrary to Max, she was taller and dressed in some ripped jeans and wore an old leather jacket over a lose top.

"It's time, Max!" the bluenette said, her voice brittle and full of fear, before reaching her best friend a picture.

The smaller girl took it and glanced at the wet photo, which showed a blue butterfly on a bucket, for some seconds. Hidden by the heavy rain, big sorrowful tears rolled down Max's face as she glimpsed for one last time at her best friend.

"I love you, Chloe!" she eventually confessed her feelings. Feelings, which had been built up for these fateful last five days. Five days that had changed Max's life forever. But fate wasn't done yet. As if the universe wanted to mock her, Chloe leaned in and placed a soft kiss on the brunette's lips, followed by four much wanted words.

"I love you, too!" Then, she walked a few steps back, signing that the decision and therefor their eternal separation was final. "And don't you dare forget about me!"

"Never!" was Max's determined answer. The task was simple, yet so hard, but there was no other option. Swallowing down that vast lump in her throat one last time, the brunette girl focused on the picture in her hands.

The apocalyptic sound of the storm around her started to fade, while the picture seemed to come alive. She felt the pull. The force that was sucking her into the photo. Back into the past, when everything had started. She felt that the transition was almost complete, as suddenly, everything was flooded by a white, blinding light and searing pain.

Max screamed out loud as the lightning struck her. Her senses overloaded and all her body could do was to shut down.

* * *

A soft melody filled the silence that had been surrounding her. She knew that song, back from her childhood with Chloe. It was relaxing. Calm. Yet it reminded her of these last five days and her feelings for her best friend. Especially that kiss.

"Mmh…Chloe?!" groaned Max silently and hoped so much to get an answer, which came right away.

"Wow, finally awake, sleepyhead?"

Max would've recognized this voice under billions of voices. Slowly, she opened her eyes and shut them right again as she was blinded by the bright daylight. But as soon as she got used to it, she gazed at her best friend, who laid right beside her, smoking a joint.

Just being glad, seeing Chloe alive and no storm around, Max immediately embraced the strawberry-blonde tightly, who was taken aback by this amount of affection.

"Whoa, down Maximus! 'sup with the mush?"

Backing away, Max barely managed to stifle a sob.

"It worked, Chloe! I-I don't know how, but it worked!"

"Uhh…o-kaaay…What worked?" replied Chloe, gazing at her friend pretty dumbfounded. Just now, Max realized that her best friend looked different. She was younger, her hair had its original strawberry-blond color instead of blue and the skin on her right arm was bare, missing any sign of ink on it.

'_Wh-what happened?! Why does Chloe look different? And why am I not in the girl's room at Blackwell? Did I fuck up reality again? What if I made everything worse? I need to know more!' _thought Max, already feeling some panic crawling through her mind.

"Chloe, what day is today?" she asked, and wonders why her voice sounded kind of strange.

"Uh, Friday?" This time, Chloe got up a bit and looked at Max with a skeptical frown. "Dude, we're always chillin' on Friday, remember? Your once-a-week rule? Ringing a bell?"

'_Chillin' always on Friday? Once-a-week rule? What the heck us going on here?!'_

Before Max could even gather her thoughts and was able to ask some more questions, Chloe let out a big sigh, pressed the joint's remains in her ashtray and stood up, stretching her limbs.

"Damn, Maximus, you should make it a once-a-month rule or cut weed entirely. You don't have to smoke that shit, just to spend some time with me, 'kay!" she said and grabbed her jacket. "Anyway, I'm off to Eliot. Don't wanna let him wait too long. Y'know your ways 'round. So, see ya!"

Entirely overwhelmed by this flood of information, Max stayed stunned in her place, not even able to reply something before Chloe left.

Groaning out loud, she slumped down on the mattress again and evaluated her current situation.

'_Okay, reality-check-time! Chloe's alive and well. No wheelchair 'n' shit. I'm still her friend and…well, looks like I started to smoke weed. Ugh, better stop taking that stuff right away, 'cause I'm feeling like shit!'_

'_(sigh) I better head back to Blackwell and try to make some sense out of this mess by reading my diaries.'_

Slowly, Max sat up and let her gaze wander around the room. It was much cleaner and not that shabby like the other Chloe's room, yet the first graffiti and punk-rock posters were scattered all over the walls. Aside from that, it pretty much looked the same.

'_Where's my cam bag?' _Max asked herself, not being able to find it or anything else she could call her own. Shrugging with her shoulders, she got up, stretched her limbs and left the room. Somehow, her body felt strange. Actually, everything felt kind of strange, but Max simply blamed the drugs for that.

'_No. More. Drugs!'_ she chided herself and went to the bathroom in order to relieve herself. She closed the door, opened the toilet's lid and unbuttoned her rather lose pants, frowning once more as she realized that she wore boxer shorts. But the biggest surprise came after she had slid them down as well.

With a loud gasp, Max stumbled backwards, only to fall onto the toilet seat. And there she was, looking with wide open eyes at the penis between her legs.

'_What the…?! What…?! No! NO! What happened?!'_

Ignoring that her pants were still down, Max jumped up, tripped over the trousers around her ankles, fell face first to the ground with a groan, got up again and took a glimpse in the mirror. Once more she got startled as the reflection showed the face of a brunette boy with freckles in his face. His hair was a few inches long and combed to the left side. Along with his blue doe-eyes, this boy looked pretty much like Maxine Caulfield, beside that his lineaments were more masculine.

"Oh my god!" said Max, shaking her head. "How could this happen? I-I…I'm a boy. A fucking boy!"

'_Okay, Max, calm down! There has to be an explanation and definitely a way out of this. I just have to keep a low profile and don't fuck up too much until I found a way back to my reality. So, I better head back to the dorms now and barricade myself into my room until I've figured things out! But…well, first things first.'_

Still feeling the need to pee, Max took position in front of the toilet again, but then asked herself how boys urinate.

'_Should I stand or sit down? When I was camping with Mom and Dad, Dad always peed standing next to a tree, but…there also wasn't a toilet around. Ugh, better just do it. Need to figure it out sooner or later, anyway. Just think positive. You got this, Max!'_

Gulping down her nervousness, Max touched the – for her – new attachment on her body, which felt pretty strange, then tried to take aim and let it flow.

"Shit!" she hissed as the spurt hit the rim of the porcelain bowl. Panicky she wanted to adjust her aim, but ended up sprinkling her shoes and pants. "Dammit!"

Eventually, Max managed to hit her target, yet she still had a lot of cleaning to do after she had pulled up her pants again.

'_Okay, Max, next time, sit down!' _she chided herself while washing her hands. She was about to leave the bathroom as Max almost collided with another person.

"Whoa! Easy, Max!" said a very familiar, male voice, which let Max freeze on the spot. Cautiously, she raised her sight and gazed into the friendly, smiling face of William Price. This faltered in an instant as he saw Max's startled demeanor. "What's wrong, Max? You look like you've seen a gho-…" His expression changed once more from worry to anger as he begun to sniff on Max. "Have you been smoking pot again?!"

Lacking any answer or even excuse, Max just manages to stammer a weak "I-I…" before she got interrupted.

"Max, you know how Vanessa reacts every time she finds out. I thought we had a deal? This time I won't cover for you. Bad enough, Chloe always smokes this stuff. Now go to your room and wait until your Mom gets back home!"

Whispering a quiet "Sorry," Max wanted to head downstairs and back to Blackwell as, suddenly, William grabbed her shoulder and signed at the door beside Chloe's room with his index finger.

"Max, this is no joke. Now, go to your room! And if you see or hear from Chloe, tell her that she's in big trouble, too!"

Now entirely puzzled and just nodding, Max decided to just go with the flow instead of making everything worse and entered _her _room.

It was way smaller than Chloe's, yet tidier and cleaner, especially for a boy's room…or at least what Max already had experienced with Warren's room, back in her reality.

'_Guess my tidiness sticks with me through time and space.'_

But apart from that, the entire style wasn't Maxine Caulfield at all. Instead of art-literature, science-fiction and fantasy books were filling one part of the shelves. The other parts were occupied by DVDs, videogames and schoolbooks. Pictures were rare and only casual family photos, signing her that in this reality, she sadly hadn't chosen photography or arts in general as her passion.

'_No photography?! Ugh, let's hope I find a way out of this hell, soon!'_

After letting out a groan of frustration, Max went on to the desk, searching for a diary or something equal that could give her some more hints about her life in this reality.

On the wall beside the desk she found a schedule from Blackwell Academy.

'_Seems like, I'm still a student at Blackwell, but obviously not an Arts major. Though, it's strange that I have classes like _Literature _or _Creative Writing_, nonetheless.'_

Then, she opened the first drawer, finding some more pictures of Chloe and the male Max, which painted a soft smile on her face.

'_No matter what, Chloe and I will always be best friends. Though, my male self should be more careful with photos, 'cause these are already pretty dirty, gross!'_

'_Let's see what else we got.'_

Rummaging some more, she brought forth a pile of paper and read them.

'_Seems like notes for a play or…stories. Is my counterpart writing stories? This would explain the literary classes. Well, not all hope is lost for this Max!'_

'_That's it with this drawer, let's try the other one!'_

In the next drawer, she found mainly electronic devices, like headphones, charging cables, batteries and a box of tissues, but to her disappointment, still no diary.

'_Curses! No diary or something even close to it! Maybe I've hidden them…wait!'_

Comparing the two drawers again, Max used her detective skills and realized that, despite that they should be the same size; the first one had much less volume then the second one. She emptied the upper drawer again and saw that the bottom's wood was different than from the entire desk. Finding a little gap, Max managed to remove the false bottom.

'_I had a dog and his name was…BINGO! Let's see what…holy shit!'_

The first thing, Max pulled out, were two smut magazines. With some disgust and a scrunched up nose, she put them aside, trying not to look at them.

'_Eww! That's so gross!'_

Next, there was a new bunch of paper sheets with some scribbled pictures and poems.

'_Aww, so cute! Looks like, this Max has a crush on someone. Not that it makes things easier for me.'_

"Jackpot!" she eventually cheered as she finally held a notebook in her hands.

'_If that's not a diary, I don't know what else it is. Let's check the last entry!'_

* * *

_October 7__th__ 2010_

_It's now been six months since everything got even worse. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that William and Mom found together and married after all this messed up shit that had happened. Joyce gone, Dad bailing on us. They deserve to be happy, yet…it fucked me over entirely. _

_I still crush on Chloe, but now that we're siblings, she's untouchable for me. Let alone that she chose to get together with this creep, Eliot. _

_I hate this guy! Whenever I hang out with Chloe in school, he looks at me with his _death-stare._ Not that I give a fuck, but sometime I wish to be Darth Vader and choke the shit out of this motherfucker! _

_I don't know what she finds in him, but I know that, sometimes, when Chloe comes home late and thinks everyone's asleep, I hear her cry. Once, I even caught her with some fresh bruises all over her body. Okay, walking in on her in the bathroom was kinda embarrassing and she raged on me, but nonetheless it worried the shit outta me, so I asked her about it. Of course, it was just a skate accident and none of my business, but I know that she hadn't stepped on a board for over a week, so it obviously was a lie. _

_But though she hasn't told me anything, I know that Eliot has something to do with it! And I swear, if this bastard is even breaking one hair on my Chloe, I'm gonna kill him!_

* * *

Max read this rather dark entry more than once and tried to make some sense out of it, almost falling desperate.

'_Mom and William married?! Joyce gone?! Dad bailed on us?! 2010?! What the fuck is going on here? I've traveled three years further back in time. I'm a boy now, who has a crush on a 16 years old Chloe. A-and Eliot…? Chloe once told me that she booted him out of her life after he had become kind of a stalker and creeped the heck out of her. But here, in this reality, he's her boyfriend.'_

'_Th-this doesn't make any sense at all! Why's this happening?! (Sigh) I ask myself, if I can even tell Chloe about this shit!'_

She was just about to search her phone – hopefully she had one – as her Mom's angry voice called through the entire house.

"Maximilian Caulfield, move your ass into the kitchen, right now!"

'_Oh boy, even in this reality, Mom can still be a dragon. Better don't let her wait!'_

"Coming, Mom!" Max yelled back with her deeper, male voice and made her way downstairs, where Maximilian's mother and William were already waiting.

Differently from her reality, Max's mom, Vanessa Caulfield, wore her brown hair short and had a business suit. Actually, the whole house looked entirely different. The kitchen and the living room's furniture were pretty much new and somewhat fancy, which meant that both, Vanessa and William seemed to earn good money.

But right now was not the time to space out or to reminisce about the house's interior.

"Uh…hi Mom!" said Max with a forced smile, but Vanessa just crossed her arms, unimpressively.

'_Oh shit! So not good!'_

"Don't you _hi, mom _me, Maximilian! William told me, you've been smoking grass again. I thought I made myself pretty clear last time, but I think it was mistake to just take your word for it."

"B-but Chloe…" the young boy with Max's conscious inside stammered, trying to start at least a conversation and therefore gaining some more information, but was not even given the chance to speak an entire sentence as his step-father spoke up.

"Don't make this about Chloe! You have your own mind and are responsible for your actions, not Chloe. And don't you think she'll get away without punishment."

Both grown-ups then shared a short glimpse, like they were two silent judges, discussing Max's sentence telepathically.

"I think two weeks grounded should be enough for now," Vanessa eventually said, facing her son again. "This means, you go straight to school and come straight back again. No detours, no dawdling. If you wanna have some fresh air, use the backyard. We clear?"

Not wanting to cause anymore trouble, Max answered with a sighed "Yes, Mom!" and went upstairs to her room again.

'_Wowser! Poor Maximilian knows how to piss off Mom. Can't even remember the last time I got grounded. Anyways, I should use the time to read the rest of this diary and try to find a way out of this mess!'_

* * *

Ecstatic moans were filling the softly enlightened room. On bed, two young teenagers were giving in to their desires and raging hormones, which peaked into a louder groan from one side and was soon replaced by heavy breathing.

A ball of tissue with a condom in it fell to the ground, then another one. Chloe laid on her back, watching how Eliot Hampden, a brunette 16-year-old, slim boy, cleaned himself and put on his boxers.

"Hey…uh, Eliot. Mind, getting me off, too?" asked Chloe softly with a frown as she realized that, at least from Eliot's side, the fun was over.

"Sorry, but I'm pretty exhausted, Chloe. Good night!" he answered and laid down again, facing his girlfriend with his back, which infuriated the blonde as she still felt a big need in her crotch.

"Dude, what the fuck?! I just got you off, twice!"

Now angry as well, the brunette boy turned around, hissing back "I had a very stressful day and it's not my fault that you take forever to finally come."

This brought Chloe over the edge. Flipping her boyfriend the bird and calling him "Asshole!", the young girl stood up and was about to get dressed as she got spun around violently and received a smack in her face.

"What did you just call me?" chimed the threatening voice of Eliot above her. But poor Chloe wasn't even able to answer as she got harshly grabbed on the back of her neck, which let her groan in pain. "I just told you politely that I'm busted from the day and you little, selfish bitch dare to call me an asshole?!"

"E-Eliot…y-you're hurting me!"

Another smack hit her, which let Chloe crumble to the ground, where she curled up into fetal position and started to sob as her tormentor continued his rant against her.

"I told you once that I'm not gonna put up with your bitchy punk-bullshit attitude!" From one second to another, Eliot calmed down from his rage, kneeled down and combed through his girlfriend's hair, his voice as cold as ice. "I love you, Chloe, but you didn't want to listen, now you feel the consequences! So, if you wanna get off, then use your fucking hands!"

Once more, Eliot went to bed and laid down like nothing had happened, leaving Chloe all alone. After some minutes, she managed to get up again. Still a bit dizzy from the beating, the blonde slowly picked up her clothes and headed for the Hampden's bathroom. There, she broke down again, and then pulled out a photo of Maximilian from her wallet.

"I'm so sorry!" she eventually whimpered and started to masturbate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next morning, Max slowly woke up and hoped that everything from the day before had just been nothing more than a bad nightmare. Sadly, it wasn't the case, evident from the room she was still in.

Sighing deeply, she moved her male body out of the bed and headed straight to the bathroom. She was halfway there as Chloe emerged from her own room as well, mumbling a drowsily "Morning!"

'_Geez, Chloe looks like shit. Wonder what happened last night? Hadn't even heard her coming home.'_

"Uh, Maximus?" said the blonde with one arched eyebrow, ripping Max out of her inner thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Uh…morningwood, dude!"

Not familiar with that word, Max just frowned a "What?" which made Chloe roll with her eyes.

"Mor-ning-wood!" she spoke once more, very slowly, sighing as she realized that her best friend still didn't get the gist. "You. Got. A. Boner. Max!"

Gasping, Max looked down on herself and saw the erection that was noticeably present inside his boxer shorts. By all the blood that was now crawling up into his face, Maxine even wondered how her penis could still be all the way standing up. Immediately, she tried to cover her crotch and turned around.

"Oh my dog, I-I'm so sorry!" he stammered with a shivering voice, feeling so embarrassed. But as he heard Chloe's chuckle and felt her friend's hand on her shoulder, Max relaxed a bit.

"Chill, Maximus! I've already seen it a few times before and it's always a good sight in the morning."

'_Wait! A good sight in the morning? What the…?!' _

Max couldn't finish her thought as she realized that the bathroom door closed and Chloe was gone.

'_Great! Chloe just threw me off-guard to sneak into the bathroom and I fell for it…UGH!'_

After waiting another ten minutes in his room and now without an erection in his pants, Max heard how Chloe left the bathroom, yelling a "Done!"

Max then grabbed his clothes and finally entered the now unoccupied bathroom. First destination: the toilet. Only this time, he sat down, though it was still pretty awkward for Maxine. Then, he stripped of his pajama and gazed at his naked reflection in the mirror.

The day before, Maxine had been so caught up in figuring out this reality that she hadn't even wasted one tiny thought about her physical condition, not even as she had changed into her pajamas. But right now, and especially after the _morningwood-incident_, she gave it a deeper thought.

Her male counterpart was averagely built. Slim, yet not as skinny as Maxine. Body hair was rarely visible, except some pubic hair. Being originally a girl, Max's eyes eventually fixed on one special part of her body.

'_I've never seen a boy naked before and though I find Chloe very attractive, I'm still not sure if I'm a full-blown lesbian, 'cause even seeing male Max in the mirror somehow…arouses me. Ugh, I just don't know how to deal with this!' _

'_(Sigh) I wish Warren would be here, so I could ask him about how to be a boy. Well, looks like I have to do some research on my own, especially how this _thing_ down there works!'_

Sighing once more, Max stepped into the shower and let the hot water run over his body. Being used to hers, Maxine found it rather uncomfortable to wash herself. But eventually, she got that behind her and was glad as clothes were covering everything up again.

Next stop, breakfast! After getting dressed in some random blue jeans and plain t-shirt, Max wanted to go downstairs, but stopped immediately on the stairs as a loud conversation between Chloe and her father chimed from the kitchen.

"…my fucking life!" yelled Chloe angrily, right followed by William's yet still calm voice.

"We know, Chloe. And we don't question your lifestyle, but your constant abuse of drugs and especially the influence your behavior has on Max!"

"Max makes his own decisions. It's not like I stuffed a joint into his freakin' mouth and forced him to smoke this shit!"

Then, Vanessa joined in the argument. "Chloe, we never said that you're forcing him, but it's a fact that you have a big influence on Maximilian! Since you two became siblings even more than before!"

"So, it's again just about Max."

"No, Chloe. It's actually about you!" William continued, even more concern sounding in his voice. "We both realized that you've changed a lot lately, and not in a good way."

"So?"

And again, Vanessa tried to support William. "We just want your best, darling!" But if anything, it infuriated Chloe even more

"If you really want _MY_ best, then _YOU_ should take a hike and get the fuck out of my life!"

Maxine could literally hear the loud gasps of William and Vanessa, who were just shocked about that comment. She already experienced how bitchy Chloe could get, but this was something way over the top for her. A behavior she just experienced when her best friend had a fight with David Madsen, her ass of a step-father from the other reality, but never towards her Mom. No wonder that William's reaction was harsh.

"Chloe Elizabeth Price, you'll take that back and apologize to your step-mother, right now!"

"NO! I'll never apologize to her, 'cause I never wanted her to be my step-mother! Mom isn't even dead for two freakin' years and you already re-married. Did you already fuck her when Mom was still around?"

"I loved your mother more than anything else!" shouted William back, and just hearing this argument hurt Maxine so bad that she couldn't hold back some tears. "When she died she left a great hole in my heart. And when Ryan left Vanessa and Max all to themselves, we found comfort in each other."

"Oh, so you just needed a pussy to fuck or what?!"

SLAP!

After that loud smack had faded, an eerie silence occurred. It was so heavy and depressing that Maxine couldn't even suppress a quiet sob. She heard steps closing in and not a second later, Chloe stood in front of and gazed at her for a brief moment with a reddened cheek, watery eyes and shivering lips, before the blonde just shoved Max aside and ran into her room, slamming the door shut loudly.

With slow and insecure steps, Max continued his way into the kitchen. William was holding a crying Vanessa in her arms, petting her back soothingly. As soon as both grown-ups became aware of the young boy, they broke the embrace, wiped their remnant tears away and tried to act as normal as possible.

"Good morning, sweetheart!" said Vanessa with a forced smile, which faltered immediately as she realized the emotional hurt in her son's eyes. "Sorry, you had to hear this. Chloe…she…"

Though, even in her reality, her mom was always over-protective and had a tendency to be bitchy, Maxine loved her nonetheless. She simply didn't deserve those hurtful words Chloe had shouted at her. Vanessa couldn't even finish what she wanted to say as Max closed in and embraced her tightly.

"You're a great mom!" he whispered and got hugged even stronger.

* * *

It had taken a few minutes for everyone to calm down again. Feeling bad to have beaten his daughter, William had tried to apologize to Chloe, but got just flipped off with harsh, yelled words. And while Max was eating a bowl of cereals, Vanessa stayed with him all the time, like he was a soothing anchor.

"Mom?" spoke Max, after he had been in deep thoughts the entire time. "Can I go and visit Joyce?"

"You're grounded, Maximilian!" was the plain answer from Vanessa, yet it didn't felt that adamant.

With a sigh, the young boy put the spoon down, his head lowered. "Mom, I know I messed up and I'm really sorry for that! But please, after everything that was said this morning, I'll just wanna get some space and…it's some time since I visited her. Please, Mom, I'll even make it up to you!"

Not used to hear such high words from her son and considering the circumstances, Vanessa exhaled deeply. "Fine. But no detours!"

Giving her an honest smile, Max gave his mother a silent "Thank you! I love you, Mom!"

Once more Vanessa's eyes got all watery as Max hugged her. "I love you too, Maximilian!" she answered, being happy that she was loved by her son and William.

Right after they separated again, Max made his way upstairs to pack some stuff. He was just about to leave as Chloe's door opened a bit and the punky girl's voice chimed.

"Hey Max, you got a minute?"

Of course, Maxine always had a minute for Chloe, every time and in every reality. So, she nodded, put down the just packed backpack and walked through the door, which the blonde had now opened entirely to grant the brunette boy access, before she closed it again.

"'sup, Chlo?" he asked, getting surprised as he got taken into another embrace, which sent a warm feeling of joy through the boy's body.

"I'm so sorry!" huffed Chloe, sniffling as another set of salty droplets rolled down the side of her face and soaked the fabric of her step-brother's shirt. "I said so fucked things to your mom and I…I didn't mean to, but…"

Backing away a bit, Max gazed deeply into Chloe's deep blue eyes, feeling the warmth inside of him increase. For a moment Maxine thought about to just lean in and feel those soft lips again, but decided against it, not wanting to mess-up too much in this reality until she found a way back.

"I know and…it's okay. But you should apologize to my mom and William, too!"

With a loud sigh, Chloe turned away, flinging her arms around her body. "They hate me, Max! They hate me like everybody else in this fucking world…except you!"

"Nobody hates you, Chlo! Not me, not your dad, not my mom and not Eliot. We all love you!"

For a moment, Chloe froze, before she turned around, looking at Max with a frown. "Since when do you call me _Chlo_?"

Though she had realized the strange reaction and avoidance of the topic, Maxine was way to overtaken by the wrong use of Chloe's nickname.

'_Shit! So, Maximilian never used that name. Ugh, better set this right before it gets too conspicuous.'_

"Uh…I-I thought it would be a cool nickname for you."

"Huh…okay!" answered Chloe eventually with a shrug and slumped down on her bed.

'_Phew, dodged that bullet!'_

"So, what are we gonna do the rest of the day?" she then asked and lighted a cigarette. "Chillin'? Tokin'? Fucking?"

"Actually…" Max started, entirely ignoring Chloe's last proposal. "I wanna pay Joyce a visit."

Once more, the blonde froze and frowned, her body completely tensed up. "Why? You never visited her before."

"I know," Maxine replied, remembering Joyce like she had seen her just yesterday. Well, actually she had seen her just yesterday. But that was something she couldn't tell Chloe. "But when you mentioned her before, I…I kinda remembered her. How she was and that…that I kinda miss her."

For a minute, Chloe stayed silent, just staring at the ceiling while her eyes were welling up. "I miss her too, y'know. Her cooking. Her witts. Her strength. Just…everything, even her annoying sides."

After wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and pressing the half-smoked cig into her ashtray, Chloe got up and grabbed her black hoodie. "C'mon, let's bail!"

* * *

Being sixteen and having a license, Chloe and Max took the family's blue station wagon and drove all the way to the cemetery, parking right in front of the gates. Like they were about to attend a funeral both stayed quiet until they stood in front of Joyce's grave.

"I can't believe it!" whispered Max, almost overwhelmed by deep sorrow.

"Yeah, me neither," added Chloe with a sniff, brushing away another tear. "Sometimes I wish, it wouldn't have been her, but…"

"William?!" completed Max her sentence, gazing at her in unbelief and anger. "You should be cautious what you wish for, Chlo! Or do you think it would've been better?"

"Yeah! At least better than this shit! Or do you think it could've been even worse?!" retorted the blonde angrily, close to go all ballistic on her step-brother.

But Maxine knew this behavior. How Chloe tented to blame each and every other human being, but herself. Raging at her or witticism wouldn't do any good, so Max tried to ease up this tense situation with some cynicism, instead.

"Well, Joyce could've married an ex-military asshole, who treats you like his recruit, has a PTSD-induced paranoia and puts surveillance cameras all around the house."

The short moment, in which Chloe said nothing, Max just hoped that she wouldn't freak and was relieved as the blonde scoffed loudly.

"Damn, that's for reals some pretty grim-as-shit scenario!"

"I know," chuckled Max dryly, letting a sigh follow. "What I just wanted to say is, we all want you to be happy!"

"But you're the only one who makes me happy!" was the blonde's soft reply as she wrapped one arm around Max's shoulder and pulled him in closely.

Like that, both remained for some time, enjoying each others closeness for a long, soothing moment.

* * *

_October 10__th__ 2010_

_Dear Maximilian,_

_Let me first say that, writing those lines to you is as awkward to me as it will be majorly awkward for you, but I think it's necessary since I took over your body and am about to have an impact on your life._

_In order to put away any further confusion, let me introduce myself to you._

_I'm Maxine Caulfield, your…well, female, eighteen-years-old counterpart from another reality. Crazy, right? But it's true and you're not schizo or bonkers in any other way._

_Anyway, tomorrow, school starts and I'm about to meet more people than Chloe or William and Vanessa. And the more people come into the picture, the higher are chances to mess things up. But I'll honestly try to keep my influence on a minimum._

_Don't be mad, but I read your diary to gain some info about you and your reality, and though it's different from mine, I'll try to make the best out of it!_

_To be honest, I thought this mess would only last minutes or in a worst case, hours. It's now been over two days and no end in sight. But in case I figure out a way to reverse that shit or if the problem solves itself automatically, I'll leave you regular messages of what I've done, so that you'll have a clue and can react on it. Gosh, I just hope it doesn't become some on-off-shit!_

_Oh, btw, I'm kind of a photo-nerd and already made a lot of pictures with your phone (sorry, can't help it), but I actually suck at writing poetry 'n' stuff, so don't worry, I'll leave your stories untouched._

_Well, that's all for the start. Hope I can solve this shit soon. _

_Maxine_

_P.S.: Since I'm originally a girl, I had to do some research on how…_everything_ kinda works, so…yeah, I think I'll manage without causing some damage. _


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Maxine always hated it when the alarm forced her to wake up. She rather liked to start the day with some chilling music, but since Maximilian was more of a Metal-guy, she skipped that part of morning routine.

Yawning and stretching his body, Max slowly stood up and the first thing he did, was gazing down his body.

'_Oh no, not again!' _thought Maxine, _'Why do I need to have a boner every morning?! It's not like I had some erotic dream or something. Though I wouldn't mind dreaming such stuff. Ugh, just keep it together, Max and focus on how to get back into your reality!'_

Remembering her own reality, Max sighed and did the only thing that helped against her current state, moving.

This morning, he didn't bump into Chloe and just walked into the bathroom right away. A nice shower later, the young boy sat at the table with a mug of coffee and some toast, wondering why nobody else was already up, until William came downstairs, poured himself a mug of coffee and sat down at the table as well.

"Well-well! Look, who became an early-bird," he said with a toothy grin, which reminded Maxine totally of Chloe. "Forgot to do some homework?"

'_Shit! Now don't tell me that Maximilian slept longer, even on schooldays.'_

"No, I…uh…I-I just couldn't sleep any longer and felt hungry, so…"

"It's alright, Max! Was just surprise to see someone up before me."

Still trying to keep any interactions at a minimum, Max simply hummed in agreement and kept on eating in silence. Five minutes later, Vanessa joined the breakfast with a friendly "Good Morning, my sweethearts!" and, last but not least, Chloe, who just got herself a bowl of cereals and sat down without a word.

Immediately, an uncomfortable quietness filled the room, which drove Maxine almost insane. She had always hated it, when Chloe had been in a fight with her parents and then pouted for days, no matter how trivial the reason had been. Luckily, William didn't like this silence as well and broke it.

"I know you're trying to ignore me for the last two days, but can we finally talk about this?" he addressed his daughter with a neutral demeanor to show that he doesn't want to fight again. Sadly, Chloe saw it differently, evident how she threw the spoon into her half-empty bowl with a loud, clattering noise and how threatening her voice sounded.

"What's there to talk about?! You flipped your shit over nothing and hit me, nuff said!"

"I already apologized several times, and say it gladly again, I'm really, really sorry!"

"There's no excuse for domestic abuse!" stated Chloe with a shivering voice and watery eyes, jumped up and ran back into her room, only to leave the house a minute later.

Entirely overwhelmed, shocked and devastated by his daughter's reaction, William Price buried his face in the palm of his hands and sighed loudly. Vanessa soothingly embraced her husband's shoulders while Max stayed quiet.

Maxine knew that William's behavior had been wrong. She also knew he regretted it. But on the other hand she could understand Chloe's reluctant behavior. Bottom-line: she had to fix this messed up situation as a third party.

"Will," Max eventually spoke, gaining his attention right away, "I think we all know that Chloe doesn't give much about empty words. She's always been passionate and that's what makes her Chloe. Maybe, instead of just talking, you should show how much you care about her."

"Okay, sounds reasonable. You've something special in mind?"

Knowing Chloe all but too well, Maxine immediately had an idea what could bring father and daughter together again.

* * *

Max stood in front of the stairs, which led towards the campus of Blackwell Academy, and gazed at the tall brick stone building, rising above her.

'_Wowser! I can't believe I'm fifteen and already a student at Blackwell…together with Chloe! Gosh, let's just hope I won't fuck up Maximilian's life too much.'_

Cautiously, he climbed the steps, keeping his eyes open for any familiar faces, but especially for Chloe.

'_Okay, my first classes are science. So, I better head straight towards the science lab and avoid any unnecessary contact with…'_

"Hey Max! 'sup, bro?" interrupted a boy Maxine's thoughts, making her curse internally. Still, she turned around and faced a blonde, lanky skater boy with glasses and base cap.

'_Shit! So much for avoiding other students. Okay, can't change it now…or can I?'_

As Max stayed silent and raised his right hand a bit, Justin Williams just frowned at him with worry. "Yo bro, you're alright there?"

'_Fuck, my powers aren't working! Seems like, I have to get through this without my rewind.'_

"Uh…y-yeah!" the freckled boy eventually answered, putting his hand down again, "I'm just a bit off today, y'know."

"Gotcha there, bro!" replied Justin, scratching the back of his neck. "But I know the right thing against it!"

With a toothy grin, he pulled out a small bag with green leafs and a pack of cigarette papers.

'_Okay, I already got that Justin is a pothead, but damn! He's just as old as me and has already smoked away most of his brain cells.'_

"Justin," whispered Max, pushing the blond boy's hand with the bag down and leaned in, "you know we're on campus, right? Wells' Zero-tolerance policy. Ring a bell?"

"Damn, bro, you're so right! Better do this off campus…be back in jiff!"

Max wasn't even able to reply anything as Justin just grabbed his stuff and left the campus, probably to smoke a joint. He simply shook his head with a sigh and continued his way to the main building.

Letting her gaze wander around the campus, Maxine saw a lot of familiar, yet younger faces: Dana Ward and Juliet Watson, gossiping their asses off. Brooke Scott without her drone, still playing on her phone and avoiding social contact. Taylor Christensen and Victoria Chase, just being their bitchy selves. And then a bunch of others, who Maxine never met, but no Chloe.

'_Dammit! Where is she? Is she already getting high in some dirty corner or…ugh, I'm just flipping my shit. She probably just needs some space and skips school today.'_

Eventually, Max had reached the science lab, chose an unoccupied seat randomly and waited for the lecture to start.

'_Okay, so far, everything went smoothly. Let's hope it stays that way.'_

The bell rung and the rest of the students flooded into the classroom, taking their seats. Last but not least, Miss Grant, a black-skinned, chubby woman in her mid-forties and Blackwell's Science teacher, entered and started the lecture.

Since Science had never been Maxine's favorite class, she began to bore herself pretty quickly, scribbling some random stuff into her notes. Until the laboratory's door got opened again and Miss Grant said, "Ah, Miss Amber! Nice of you to pay us a visit nonetheless!"

'_Miss Amber?!'_ thought Maxine, her entire being tensing up. She shifted her gaze from her artwork to the teacher's desk and saw a very beautiful girl with long, blond hair, dressed in red plaid button shirt with a black top under it and some ripped black jeans.

"I'm sorry, Miss Grant! Had some trouble coming back from L.A." answered the blonde politely, adding an innocent smirk to her words.

'_Rachel Amber!'_

"It's okay! I heard about the accident. Just take a seat, Rachel!"

"Thanks, Miss Grant!"

Her eyes literally glued at her figure, Maxine followed Rachel Amber how she sauntered through the room…directly towards her. Hadn't given it much attention, she just now realized that the seat beside her was unoccupied and, like the universe was mocking her again, Rachel threw her backpack on the desktop and sat down beside her in a swift motion.

'_Fuck! It really is Rachel freakin' Amber! God, she's so beautiful! No wonder Chloe was so into her and I…damn! I already start to crush on her, too. Stupid hormones!'_

Somehow feeling that Max was staring at her, Rachel smirked wryly, before she glimpsed at him from the corner of her eyes, which made the brunette boy turn away with a deep blush.

Once again, the door got opened, but this time more rapid and violently. It was Chloe who almost stumbled into the classroom with staggering, insecure steps, catching everyone's attention right away.

On one hand, Maxine was happy about the distraction, on the other hand she was shocked about Chloe's condition.

"Uh…h-heya, Miss Grant! I…uh…I-I kinda felt shitty and…ugh, fuck! I'm still…kinda...BLECH!"

In one big wave, Chloe puked her entire last meal right in front of the teacher's desk, causing the students in the front row and Miss Grant to back away a bit. The air was now filled with the stench of vomit, screeches and loud "_Ewws!_" as the routine of the lecture turned into utterly chaos.

Hissing a loud "Shit!", Max jumped from his seat and sprinted towards his step-sister, who was now on all fours, her hands resting in the puddle of puke. Together with Miss Grant, the young boy managed to bring her back on her feet, the stench of half-digested food and alcohol inducing him to gulp as well.

"Let's bring her to the infirmary!" spoke the black-skinned teacher, turning to the class one last time. "Brooke, go and get Samuel to clean up this mess. And the rest of you, wait outside until I'm back!"

Max, as well, let his gaze wander over his classmates one last time, seeing Eliot, who seemed pretty agitated, and Rachel, who looked somewhat concerned.

On their way to the infirmary, Chloe had to puke once again, luckily, it wasn't that much. The blonde's entire shirt and blue jeans were spotted with vomit and that intense smell was following them. Eventually, they had reached their destination.

The nurse immediately took over Max's position and ordered the young boy to close the curtain and wait on the other side while both woman undressed Chloe and wrapped her into some blankets before laying her onto the bed. The dirty clothes were thrown into a plastic bag.

"I'm gonna call her parents," said Miss Grant, followed by a deep sigh. "Max, you can stay with her until she got picked up, if you want to."

"Of course, Miss Grant. Thank you!" answered Max with a weak smile, being very concerned about Chloe's condition and the consequences that would soon follow.

* * *

Time flew by as Max waited beside Chloe, either for her to wake up or for one of their parents to finally pick her up. None of those possibilities occurred during this one hour the brunette boy was already waiting now. Eventually, the bell chimed, signing the end of morning classes and the beginning of lunch-break.

As it knocked on the infirmary's door, Max got up, thinking it would be his parents. Sadly, it was just Eliot Hampden, asking the nurse for Chloe and frowning agitatedly as he saw Max.

"Can I speak to _my _girlfriend…alone?" he said, the aggressive tone in his voice increasing Max's pulse.

"Can't you see that she's still asleep?"

They stood now face-to-face, Eliot a bit taller than Max. Still, the freckled boy didn't think about to move aside or letting this creep alone with Chloe.

"Hey!" whisper-yelled the nurse, "If you guys wanna compare your testosterone-levels, then do it outside! Now, get out! Both of ya!"

While Eliot rushed out of the infirmary without a word, Max apologized and left as well, sighing deeply as he was standing in the hallway.

"Hey!" it sounded again, but this time it originated from a lovely, female voice, right opposite the infirmary. Leaning against some lockers, stood Rachel Amber, arms crossed and a wry smirk on her lips again. "Thought I'd bring your stuff, since I figured that you had enough stench of vomit for today!" she then said with a wink, reaching Max his backpack.

Still being intimidated by the blonde's cheer presence, Max just blushed and averted her gaze, mumbling a quiet "Thanks!" But this didn't bother Rachel the slightest.

"I even added the stuff you missed to your notes. And don't worry, I copied it on my phone and will rewrite it at home. Sooo…yup, that's it. See ya!"

Suddenly, Rachel was gone, vanished somewhere in the crowd of students. Max would've loved to give the whole situation a deeper thought, now that his brain started to work again, but his mom's voice ended this endeavor before it even had started.

"Maximilian!"

With concern, the brunette woman, dressed once more in a black suit, approached his son and hugged him.

"What happened?! Your Science teacher called and told me, Chloe wasn't well."

"Mom," Max said, already trying to defuse the situation before it could heat up. Luckily, Miss Grant had been smart enough to hold back with the details, probably knowing about Chloe's difficult situation. "Chloe came to school wasted beyond everything and puked right in front of Miss Grant."

"What?!" gasped Vanessa, fury beginning to burn in her eyes. But before she got in full rage, Max tried to calm her down.

"Mom, I know it was pretty stupid of her, but…please don't go all ballistic on her!"

Once again, his mother huffed "What?!" trying to hold her composure. "Maximilian, Chloe crossed a line here. It's bad enough that she smokes and drinks anyway, but coming to school, entirely drunk…? Are you even aware of the problems, not only she, but also we as a family are about to face? Chloe can consider herself lucky, if she just gets suspended, but I…" She pauses for a minute, taking a deep breath once more. "I'm the DA's assistant and can't afford bad rumors about an allegedly delinquent step-daughter! It could break my boss' neck during the next election."

"I know!" replied Max, louder than intentioned, being aware of his mom's job in this reality, but paused for a few seconds to calm down again. "Mom, I don't wanna defend Chloe's stupid behavior, but…she doesn't need more rage or punishment, but love and support!"

For a minute, Vanessa remained silent and Max could see how she became more relaxed and calm. "Alright," she eventually sighed and then gave her son a soft smile. "And you go and get yourself something to eat. You must be starving."

Just at this moment, Max actually realized how his stomach grumbled. "Will do, Mom!" he said and hugged his mother tightly. "Thanks for taking care of Chloe!"

"I'll always take care of my two munchkins!" she replied with a chuckle, before breaking the embrace. "Now, off you go!"

Smiling and saying "Okay! Later, Mom!" Max left for the cafeteria, while Vanessa sighed once more and entered the infirmary.

* * *

After telling the nurse who she was, Vanessa cautiously approached Chloe and touched her shoulder softly, to wake her up.

"Chloe?" she spoke calmly and watched how the girl with the strawberry-blonde hair squirmed and groaned before opening her eyes.

The first thing she said was a hissed "Shit!" and then closed her eyes again, probably waiting to get a lecture. But it didn't happen. Vanessa kept her promise and gave her step-daughter a gentle smile.

"Come on, Chloe! Let's get you home!"

Being entirely surprised by this lack of rage, Chloe just frowned, not trusting the peace. However, she also didn't want to spend the rest of the day in the infirmary, therefore, she mustered all her willpower to overcome the need to stay in bed and got up. Having brought some fresh clothes, Vanessa helped her step-daughter to get dressed again, grabbed the plastic bag with the dirty clothes and helped Chloe walking back to her car, a black Mercedes.

"You sure you wanna drive me in your fancy car?" asked Chloe, holding on to the frame while opening the door.

"It's not like I have a choice, Chloe, and besides…" Vanessa entered the car swiftly, already starting the engine and waiting for Chloe to fasten the seatbelt, before continuing her words, giving the blonde a smirk. "…I trust you that you'll keep it inside for the ride!"

After they had left the parking lot, both women stayed quiet for a moment, yet both also knew that it wouldn't stay that way. Eventually, Vanessa began to speak.

"So, why did you do it?"

"Did what?" Chloe simply replied, playing fool. But Vanessa didn't take the bait. Instead, she stayed calm.

"Getting drunk. You're a smart girl and never did anything without a reason. So, why?"

Chloe stayed silent, her gaze fixed at some point outside the passenger's window, clearly ignoring her step-mother. But as the brunette woman heard a sniffle, she stopped the car immediately and took the now sobbing girl in a tight embrace.

Right at this moment the _Why?_ was unimportant. What mattered, was to give Chloe the comfort and safety she needed right now.

* * *

Maxine sat at a picnic table and went over the notes Rachel had given her, while munching on a sandwich.

'_Damn! Those notes are incredible! Everything is so tidy and structured. When I think back to my scripts…just yikes!'_

Though most of that stuff already seemed familiar to Maxine, she told herself to learn this boring info. As she was just going through the last page, she saw something that was out of the ordinary: some quickly scribbled words and a number.

"_Text me_?!" replied Max those words, staring at them with wide open eyes.

'_Did Rachel leave me a message?! Why?'_

On one hand, Maxine was curious and wanted to know what's going on. But on the other hand, she didn't want to interact too much with this reality and therefore shoved that idea aside.

With a sigh and a bunch of mixed feelings, Max took a peek at her phone, realizing that lunch break was almost over and another bunch of classes were laying ahead of her.

'_Ugh, better go to the classroom. Literature isn't really my thing, but maybe I can earn some points for my interest in the classics.'_

As it turned out, even with her interest in poems and some classics, Literature still remained boring as well as the other remaining classes. But eventually, the bell sounded for the last time of the day and freed Max from his scholarly duty…or at least, so he thought.

"Hey Max!" another, to Maxine unknown, voice chimed, originating from a slender, brunette girl with casual clothes and a beanie on her head.

'_Uh…who the heck is that? I don't recognize her at all.' _Maxine thought and simply replied with "Uh…yeah?", getting even more surprised as she got hugged by that strange girl.

"How's that script coming? I already have a million ideas for the setting and the costumes, based on our first brainstorming, but…"

Out of a sudden, she stopped rambling as the brunette realized that Max was entirely without a plan about what she was talking about, evident by his dumbfounded demeanor.

"Hello-o! Earth to Max! Are you spaced out again?"

"Uh…" was the first thing Max brought forth, still unaware the girl's name. "S-sorry, I…" He inhaled deeply, taking a few seconds to gather all thoughts. "Sorry, it's just been such a shitty day and I'm totally busted. Can we do this tomorrow?"

At first, Maxine feared that the girl would be mad or worse, go all ballistic on her, but she simply shrugged and smiled warmly. "Yeah, think you're right. Mondays just suck. Let's do this tomorrow, then. Wanna grab some snacks and chill a out a bit? Maybe watch some _Walking Dead_?"

Though this girl seemed to be super-nice, Maxine still wanted to hold on to her plan. Let alone that she was grounded anyway.

"Sorry, but…uh…I got grounded for smoking weed and…yeah, not allowed to make any detours."

"Bummer!" replied the girl, but still refused to be mad at Max. "Not even good ol' Gamemaster Steph Gingrich is able to compete against the evil forces of parenthood. Guess it has to wait, huh?"

"Yeah," answered Max shyly, scratching his neck, because Maxine wasn't sure if they both were just friends or…more. The only way to find out was to do more research. "Hey…um, Steph. You mind, if I'm taking a photo of you?"

At first, Steph frowned upon this request, but eventually gave her "Okay!" and took a neutral pose. After getting the right angle and an artificial click later, the picture appeared on the screen of Max's phone. He then showed it the brunette, whose eyes suddenly opened wide upon the perfect shot.

"Wow, never thought I could be that photogenic."

"It's all about lighting and angle," he started to ramble while gazing at the photo, "If you mix that with the perfect model, you get amazing shots. Even with such a crappy phone-cam."

As Max realized what he was doing, he froze for a second and turned his glimpse towards Steph, who was smirking widely at him.

"Okay. Firstly, you sounded much like Evan right now, and secondly, if I wouldn't have been a lesbian, I would totally date you for that compliment!"

Blushing beet-red, Max gazed back at the photo, but instead of staying quiet, Maxine's truthful nature and newly discovered girl-crushing side spoke out of him.

"But it's true. You've a natural beauty. You don't need any make-up or different style. Your full, red lips are a perfect focus-spot and your eyes are radiating some sort of adventurous anticipation."

Silence occurred for another minute, making both realize that no other students were in the hallway anymore. Maybe this was the reason, why Steph leaned in and quietly said "I once read that even lesbians tend to have sex with a guy from time to time."

Taken entirely aback, Max chocked on his spit and coughed wildly, so that Steph had to pat his back.

"It was just a joke, Max!" she giggled and then rubbed soothingly over the brunette boy's back. "Besides, for now, I'm totally girls-only!"

"Good…ugh…good to know!" he gasp, taking some more deep breaths. "Listen, I've…I've gotta go and…"

"Yeah, you do that!" the brunette girl replied and embraced Max once more. "We'll see us tomorrow! Bye!"

"See ya!" called Max after her, still catching some breath and then began his journey back home.

'_Nice going, Max! First day in school and you already interacted with a dead girl, made a move on a lesbian and witnessed how Chloe entirely fucked up. Let's hope that's all drama for today!'_

* * *

As Max arrived back at home, he sighed in exhaustion and immediately made his way upstairs. For a moment, he stopped and glimpsed at Chloe's door, weighing the option to knock and talk with her. But considering her previous condition, he decided to let her rest and sober up.

After throwing his backpack on the bed in his room, the young boy slumped down right beside of it and closed his eyes for a minute.

'_Fuuck, I'm so busted! And I thought playing CSI Arcadia Bay with Chloe had been exhausting.'_

Letting the events of the day passing by in her mind, Maxine tried once more to bring some sense into this reality. But no matter how much she thought about other things, one person came up in her thoughts, again and again: Rachel Amber.

'_She's so beautiful and nice. From Chloe's stories, I always had the image of her, being a constantly high bitch, who fucks and lies her way through life. But this Rachel seems to be so different. I wonder why she even gave me her number.'_

Right away, Maxine's nosiness snapped in and made her rummage through the notes in Maximilian's backpack until she found the sheet with Rachel's number on it.

'_Okay, Max, keep it simple! She wanted to be texted, so just write a neutral text.'_

[Max]: _Hi!_

'_Oh, how creative, Max…NOT!'_

A few minutes of excruciated waiting, Max received an answer.

[Rachel]: _Hi…unknown person…_

'_Idiot! You forget to write, who you are,' _scolded Maxine herself internally with a facepalm.

[Max]: _It's me. Maximilian Caulfield. You wanted me to text you._

'_Oh gosh, Max, that's so embarrassing! What the hell is wrong with you?!'_

[Rachel]: _Indeed I did. Cause now I gotcha number and can stalk you like a creeper! Muhaha!_

A sigh of relief emerged from Max upon this mock from Rachel's side. Already experienced with such mind-games from Chloe, Maxine wanted to play that game as well and lure Rachel into a trap.

[Max]: _What if I wanna be stalked by you?_

More minutes passed without a reply, making Maxine almost believe that she might had overdone it. But then the phone chimed again and Max's jaw dropped as he saw the selfie Rachel had sent.

[Rachel]: _Put this on your homescreen and consider yourself stalked! ;)_

The heart in his chest hammered like crazy and his stomach made summersaults as Max took in every detail of the picture. It showed the blonde's face in a close-up, a wry smirk on her lips and one of her stunning green eyes closed.

'_Oh my dog, she's so pretty! NO! Stop it Max! You can't interfere with this reality so much!'_

'_Ugh, who am I kidding? It was my first day in school and it was merely a miracle nothing worse happened. Maybe I should change my strategy and do what Maximilian would do…or at least guess what he would do. And he would definitely hit on that hot chick!'_

All worries thrown overboard and having a smug smile on his face, Max snapped a selfie of himself and sent it to Rachel in return.

[Max]: _Consider yourself stalked as well! ;)_

[Rachel]: _Game's on, bitch! See ya tomorrow in school!_

[Max]: _See ya…bitch!_

With a chuckle of amusement, Max let the phone drop to the side, his cheeks were flustered and he had to hold his stomach because of a swarm of butterflies that was going wild in there.

'_Shit, I'm so crushing on her! Should I feel bad about it? I mean, I really love the Chloe from my reality, but in this one…I don't know. It's like she's entirely strange to me and kinda a forbidden fruit. So, I think it's okay to give in to my feelings as long as I'm stuck here.' _thought Maxine, and took another look at the picture.

A new wave of warmth flushed through Max's body and suddenly gathered in his crotch, causing that his pants became kind of tight in a sudden place. And Max immediately realized that this was different from her morning erection. Maxine actually felt the need to touch herself.

'_Damn, it's been some time since I did it to myself. The stress at the beginning of the semester. This fucking week. And now this kinda interdimensional travel…I just never found some space to get off. But…I also thought it's a body-thing and not mental.'_

'_Ugh, I should take a cold shower and make a new plan on how to act in future and try to do some more research of Maximilian's friends.'_

As Maxine thought of what she had already found, she remembered a bunch of poems the young boy had written.

Max jumped up, rummaged through the secret compartment of the drawer once more and read all those writings of love, realizing that they were all about one person.

'_Rachel Amber! He crushed on her, too! So, he wouldn't actually be mad if I help and intensify things between them. Though, don't get cocky, Max! It's not like you have been in a relationship before.'_

Having made the decision to give in to her feelings, Maxine, now entirely love-struck, hummed one of her favorite songs, grabbed some fresh clothes and went for a cold shower.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_Beep…beep…beep…_

Some strange, beeping sound woke Chloe from her restless slumber. With a groan she turned on her back, but still refused to open her eyes since her head was throbbing like someone was constantly driving a nail through it. The noise continued mercilessly, nonetheless, increasing the amount of pain.

"Ugh, fuckdammit!" she growled and slowly rolled out of bed to get some Aspirin. As she wanted to stumble her way to the bathroom, she stopped by the window in order to investigate the source of this damn noise.

A wrecker, towing an old, rusty pickup truck, was just about to drive backwards into the driveway of her home.

"What the fuck?!" the blonde frowned as the rust bucket was lowered and William signed some papers.

Realizing that her curiosity got the better of her, Chloe decided to get her much needed pill later and walked downstairs with slow steps, exiting the house just as the towing truck leaves. She walked over the lawn and came to a halt directly beside her dad.

"What's that?" she asked and got an answer right away.

"An old truck!"

"No shit," replied Chloe, already getting annoyed by her father, who hadn't even looked up from the paperwork in his hand…but did it right away as he felt the tension.

"It's our new science project!" he spoke proudly, giving his daughter, who had already crossed her arms, a smile. "And the topic is: _Can the Prices bring an ol', rundown truck back to life?_"

"Nice project, Frankenstein!" she simply commented with some cynicism. "Should I call the wrecker again, so he can tow this piece of crap back to the junkyard after you're done with it?"

"Oh, come on, Chloe. Where's your sense for adventure? We rocked the science-fare '08 and I think we can do this again! And besides…" He then leaned in to his daughter, putting some more encouragement into his voice. "If we pull this through, this bad boy will be all yours! So, whatcha think?"

A minute passed until Chloe eventually answered "Nice try, but you still suck!" and walked back into the house, slamming the front door shut.

Eventually, she did what she originally had planned to do: taking an Aspirin, hitting the shower, getting dressed and finally having a bowl of cereals plus a coffee.

Chloe had just finished her breakfast as Max came into the kitchen with a happy "Morning!" and made himself some cereals.

"Wow, somebody's in a good mood," mentioned the older girl plainly, watching as her step-brother sat down with his meal right opposite from her.

Ignoring this comment, Max simply asked "So, how are you feeling?" and began to eat.

"Ugh, like shit!"

"Well…alcohol comes always with a vengeance!" commented the younger boy and received a middle-finger and a stern glare, which faltered just a second later as Chloe dropped her sight in shame.

"Guess I fucked up big time again, huh?"

"Kinda," answered Max with a shrug, "Though we'd love to know why you did it in the first place."

Silence occurred for some time, accompanied by a tension that was hovering above the two siblings.

"Max," Chloe then suddenly spoke, gazing at Max with anticipation, "Let us elope! Just the two of us, nobody else. We could…y'know, just travel around and conquer the world, like we did when we were tweens!"

"Sounds like a plan, but…" the brunette boy said, followed by a deep sigh. "It won't solve our problems and…how should we live? We have no car, not enough money and are underage. The cops would drag us back here before the adventure would even have started."

"Yeah," agreed Chloe with another sigh. "You're right. But it would be really awesome!"

"Definitely!" was the boy's answer and once again, both became silent. As Max had finished his breakfast, he the eventually asked "Do you know Rachel Amber?"

"The school-princess?" frowned Chloe once more, sounding a bit agitated and then rolled with her eyes as Max nodded. "Who doesn't know Rachel fucking Amber?! Stupid bitch!"

"You don't seem to be very fond of her."

"Max, don't get me wrong. I know that you – like every other guy with a dick at Blackwell – are drooling like fuck when you see her…and probably wanna stick your boner into her pussy. But this doesn't mean I have to like her!"

It was not like Chloe didn't want Max to get his freak on with another girl. She just wanted to make sure that he wouldn't get hurt. Still, she felt a bit bad as her step-sibling hadn't replied anything.

"Dude, if you wanna fu-…uh…if you wanna date her, then do it. But remember that she's one of those backstabin' bitches and can easily fuck you over."

"Y'know, Chloe," Max eventually answered annoyingly as he stood up, "I get it that you don't trust other people a lot, but maybe you should try to learn something about them before going all judgmental. That would at least be fair!"

The blonde's gaze followed the brunette boy as he went upstairs, only to leave for school a minute later.

Groaning a quiet "Dammit!" she then got up as well and cleaned the dishes before getting her stuff from her room and starting her way to school.

Outside the house, William was still busy with that old truck, evident that he was fumbling at the engine while mumbling some curses, which let the blonde roll with her eyes again.

"Dad, you can't even fix the freakin' lawnmower. What makes you think, you can repair an entire, pretty busted truck?"

"Confidence!" it chimed from under the hood, "And the hope that you'd help me."

For quite some time, Chloe just leaned against the rusty frame with crossed arms, eyeballing what her father was doing.

"The fuel pump!" she eventually mentioned. "The fuel pump's gone as well as the battery. Plus, some rodent bit through the sparkplug cables."

With a smug smile on his face, William shifted his attention from the engine to his daughter, saying "And I thought this project sucks?"

"Well, _you_ still do. The project doesn't!" was Chloe's plain answer as she, in return, gave the vehicle her full attentiveness while her father took a step back to give the punky girl some space.

"You're right. This poor truck indeed didn't fuck up."

"At least you admit it," replied Chloe, picking up the wrench to unscrew a cable. "And you also know that Vanessa will bust your ass for blocking the entire driveway with that junker?"

Crossing his arms, William just shrugged and couldn't hold back a smirk. "Firstly, she already knows. Secondly, she'll just be glad if we both make up again."

Slamming the wrench back into the metal toolbox, Chloe came forth from under the hood and gave her father a stinky eye. "It takes more than all this shit here to make up. You really hurt me, Dad! And repairing a truck together and giving it to me later aren't enough to get my forgiveness. Although…" she said at first with some bitterness, which somehow changed and became a soft tone. "…it's a start. Thanks for the effort, Dad!"

While wiping her hands clean with a cloth, Chloe internally asked herself why her father hadn't raged on her for what had happened yesterday. But, why wake up sleeping dogs? Instead, she simply picked up her backpack and left for school while William smiled warmly and said "You're welcome, kiddo!"

* * *

[Rachel]: _Meet me at the drama lab!_

As Max read this message, he didn't know what to think about it. Sure, since yesterday, a frequent exchange of texts between him and Rachel was more than to just expect, but that it was so soon came with a slight surprise. Nonetheless, the brunette boy went straight to said destination without any detour.

Because the door stood open, Max was able to take a peek inside and witnessed two students, performing a part of a play. One of them, was Rachel.

'_Wowser, she's so awesome!' _thought Maxine as she watched her crush for some time. Though she didn't recognize the play, Rachel's performance immediately carried her away. Rachel literally filled her role with life energy and therefore let the character become alive.

As the blonde glimpsed over the shoulder of her play partner, who had his back towards Max, she gave the young boy a short wink with her eye and a faint smirk. Right away, he blushed beet-red and shifted his gaze to the ground for a moment.

Eventually, both actors had finished their practice session. And while Rachel's partner grabbed his bag, the young blonde went into the wardrobe.

Maxine didn't know why, but somehow Maximillian's body moved on its own and he cautiously peeked inside the smaller room full of clothes.

Rachel stood in front of a mirror, putting on some make-up.

"Don't be shy, come in!" she said, her reflection glimpsing at Max with a wry smirk.

Walking in with insecure, small steps, Max only managed to say "Uh…H-hi Rachel! You…um…you wanted to see me?"

Swiftly, the attractive girl turned around, her smirk even wider. "Well, kinda," she answered with a shrug, "Actually, I just felt the need to uphold my duties as stalker. Uh…y'know, I've got a tight schedule 'n' stuff."

Somehow not able to process Rachel's answer, Max simply looked at her with dilated eyes, only saying "Um…" which caused Rachel to giggle.

"C'mon, Max. We've PE. Let's head for the pool together!"

After Rachel had packed the make-up into her backpack, she and Max walked side-by-side to the pool building. But instead of talking, both simply threw a few glimpses at each other.

'_Wowser! I'm walking with Rachel to PE. Is this even something special? Ugh, having a hard crush sucks!'_

They had just left the building, as someone called "Hey Rach, you got a minute?"

"Just keep goin'! We'll see us in PE," said Rachel and walked over to a brunette girl, Max knew as Dana Ward.

Still not able to believe and therefore befuddled of how well things were going with Rachel, Max just kept on walking on autopilot, until a sadly too familiar, female voice ripped Maxine back into reality.

"And where're you thinking you're going, perv?"

'_Victoria!'_

Though younger and in a different reality, Victoria Chase looked pretty much the same like her older version. Short, pixie-cut blond hair, over-expensive clothes – mainly consisting of a skirt, a blouse and a sweater – and this always pissed-off, bitchy demeanor. Yes, even in this reality, Victoria Meribeth Chase set the hit list for the bitchy upper class of Blackwell Academy.

"Hey perv!" she addressed Max once more, even giving him a slight push, "I asked you something!"

Just now, Maxine realized that – probably out of routine – she nearly had walked into the girl's dressing room.

"Uh…s-sorry! I…" Max stammered, but couldn't even explain himself as Victoria already called for the teacher.

"MRS. BOREAS!"

Right away, the door of the teacher's office opened and a broad, muscular woman, with an angular face and short-cut black-grey hair, dressed in sport shorts and an _Otters_-shirt appeared. And without a break, Victoria stated her side of the story.

"Mrs. Boreas, this pervert here tried to sneak into the girl's dressing room to peep on us!"

"Mr. Caulfield, is this true?" chimed the harsh voice of the teacher, letting Max know that, whatever he would say, they would call him a liar.

"N-no! I…I was just lost in thoughts, as…"

"Cheap excuse!" interrupted Victoria right away. "I caught him red handed! He even had his hand already on his crotch!"

"Mr. Caulfield, if this is true, then you're in for a visit at the principal's office!"

Mrs. Boreas as well as Victoria had now started to shoot in on the poor boy, making Maxine realize that there was no chance to avoid punishment at this moment. She already wanted to give in as a very welcome voice turned the tides.

"Hey Max!" said Rachel Amber and took place right at Max's side, while assessing the situation. "What's going on?"

Of course, it was Victoria, who answered the question, adding some more drama. "I caught this little tweep as he tried to sneak into the dressing room!"

"Sneaking in? Through the door while it's filled with girl's? I get that Max is awesome, but he's definitely not a ninja!" the blonde with the green eyes shot back and then addressed the teacher with doe-eyes. "Mrs. Boreas, Max wanted to bring me my bracelet, which I had forgotten in the drama lab. I told him that I was already here, but then got held up by Miss Ward. So, Max…mind, giving me my bracelet back?"

Though, at first, he didn't know how to react, Max felt a soft pat on the right side of his jeans. And as he moved his hand into his pocket, the brunette boy – to his surprise – found the bracelet there, pulled it out and reached it to Rachel.

"Thank you, Max!" she replied with an honest, warm smile and then glanced back at the PE teacher. "See, Mrs. Boreas! This is nothing more than a misunderstanding. A very confusing one I might add. No wonder Victoria became very protective for her fellow students, which shows how much she cares."

Upon the amount of sweetness, the pixie-blonde blushed and stayed silent, not knowing how to boldly reply Rachel's praise of her person, who actually never cared at all about others than herself.

Mrs. Boreas, however, got entirely entangled by the actress' aura, her demeanor softening. "Well, I'm glad and thank you, Miss Amber, for bringing some light into this uncomfortable situation. However, I suggest that, in future, you should send someone else to bring your belongings."

And then, the show was over. Mrs. Boreas went back to the office and Victoria gave her nemesis a stinky eye and vanished into the dressing room. Only Max and Rachel remained.

"Thanks!" spoke Max quietly, feeling a bit ashamed from this entire situation, whereas his crush just kept on smirking at him.

"Dodged that bullet, huh?" she said with a giggle, adding a mocked "Maximilian Caulfield, the notorious perverted Peeping Tom of Blackwell Academy!"

With a scoffed "Yeah!" Max locked eyes with Rachel, both staying like this for some time. Once more, the young boy felt how a bunch of butterflies were going wild in his stomach and the need to simply lean in emerged from within. And it might have happened, if Rachel's demeanor hadn't gone dead-serious.

"You owe me, Caulfield!"

Taken aback, he simply gasped "Wh-what?!" before the brunette boy realized that he got mocked once more, evident as Rachel's stern expression faltered and she planted a faint kiss on his cheek.

"Ice cream. Meet me at the stairs right after school!"

Without another word, Rachel left for the dressing room, leaving Max alone with those last words, chiming in his head over and over again. Entirely absent again, he then walked into the boy's dressing room, freezing on the spot upon the picture that was presented in front of him.

'_Holy crapers!' _gasped Maxine internally as she saw several naked boys in front of her. This sight didn't actually just arouse her, but also made her feel embarrassed beyond everything. _'Damn, I thought I'm into girls. So, why am I getting aroused by this?!'_

Being obviously flustered, Max bowed his head and tried to avert any presentation of manhood entirely as well as hiding the bulge in his pants by sitting down.

'_Ugh, why do I always get a boner? It sucks so much! As a girl you just get wet and as long as you don't spread your legs, you're safe and sound.'_

'_I better wait until everyone's gone and I'm alone.'_

A good plan, yet flawed and not working that well as someone realized Max's strange behavior.

"Hey Max, you're alright?"

And again, this voice was much known by Maxine, making her groan internally again.

'_Oh no! Not Warren! Please, don't let it be Warren!'_

But of course it was Warren. And he was standing right in front of Max, who was just glad that the other boy already wore his trunks.

"Um…no. Actually, I feel kinda dizzy 'n' shit." Max eventually gave back, but then also found it awkward, how Warren was gazing at him. It somehow remembered Maxine of the looks Warren had given her in her reality.

"Oh," the nerdy boy mentioned, "Then maybe you should stay put a bit longer. I can tell Mrs. Boreas and then keep you some company."

'_Okay, maybe I'm a bit sensitive right now, but…is he hitting on me?! Is the Warren of this reality…gay?! Jeez, I can't catch a break!'_

"Uh…thanks Warren, but just go ahead, I…I'm just gonna sit for another five minutes and then join you guys."

"Okay-dokay, just holla, if you need some company!" replied the other boy with another toothy smirk and then left for the pool.

After Max had made sure that nobody was around anymore, he started to look for his locker. Thankfully, like in Maxine's reality, they were ordered alphabetically and the lock combination was still her birthday.

Now having access to his bathing clothes, the young boy started to undress and change into his trunks. Maxine had never been a friend of showering before swimming, but also knew about the fuss teacher were making when skipping it. So, Max hit the shower and then walked into the pool area.

On the one side were the girls, occupying two lanes. The other two were reserved for the boys.

Instinctively, Max let his gaze wander to the girl's side, looking for Rachel. But instead, he spotted Chloe.

'_Wowser!' _gasped Maxine internally as she witnessed how Chloe, dressed in a cobalt-blue swimsuit, plunged into the water and swam her lane as fast as an Otter. He only could withdraw his mesmerized gaze as someone was clearing her throat behind him, followed by the chiding voice of Rachel.

"Lookin' for someone, Mr. Caulfield?"

Max froze and gulped hard. Slowly, he turned around and was met with two stinging green eyes, which were glaring at him. Rachel, her young body covered by a red swimsuit, had her hands rested on her hips and an eyebrow arched, like a mother who had caught her child as it was about to reach into the cookie-jar.

"I-I…I…" stammered Max once more, his face turning red. But Rachel just snickered again and took position beside him.

"She's hella hot, isn't she?" said the blonde, crossing her arms as her beautiful eyes followed Chloe.

Again, Max didn't know what to say. The girl's intensions simply remained a mystery to him. Therefore, he stayed quiet.

"Max, I'm neither stupid nor blind. I know about the chemistry between you and Chloe and all I wanna know is, does it interfere with our ice-cream shindig?"

Finally able to avert his gaze from Chloe, Max eventually looked at the now wryly smirking girl, answering "No, ice-cream is still a go!"

A sparkle of happiness appeared in her stunning green eyes, yet Rachel wasn't able to reply anything as Mrs. Boreas interfered.

"Miss Amber, I guess Mr. Caulfield's confusion rubbed off on you, or why is it that you're at the wrong side of the pool?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Boreas!" returned the beautiful actress politely, gave Max a slight shove with her shoulder, saying "See ya after school!" and left.

As Max's sight remained at the blonde – especially her behind – he didn't realize that Chloe was staring at Rachel as well, but with an angry frown instead of yearning.

* * *

With a deep inhale, Chloe emerged from the water. Her heart raced and her breathing was fast. She combed a lose strand of strawberry-blonde hair from her face and put it behind her ear and then climbed out of the water.

She loved swimming, because being weightless also felt like being free and without the burdens of the world. Moments, in which she could think clearly without using drugs. This is why she had decided to join the swim team as a successful swimmer. During the last competition against the Newport Senior High School, Chloe had even managed to get second place and was therefore seen as the following team captain. At least, if it wasn't for her numerous infractions.

Furtively, she glimpsed at the other side of the pool and immediately spotted her step-brother, talking with Rachel Amber. Right away, her already from the swimming blushed face turned even redder as she scowled at the scene.

"You hate her, don't you?" asked Steph, her hand resting on the blonde's shoulder to calm her down.

"She's fake!" she simply spoke venomously, shifting her sight to look at Steph. "I mean, you crush on her, don't you? So, doesn't it bust your mind that she's making a move on Max?"

For a short moment, Steph glimpsed at Rachel and then back to Chloe, her demeanor stern, yet without any anger. "Maybe it should, but actually it doesn't. Rachel is her own person and if she decides to date Max, then it's her choice and not mine to judge. And besides…" a soft smirk appeared on her face. "She's not the only hot girl in this school."

Scoffing, Chloe rolled with her eyes. "Geez, Steph! You know I'm with Eliot."

"…and you hate it! But that's not for me to judge either. However if you're up for some tryouts, just gimme a sign!"

As Steph moved and went to do some warm-up, Chloe just scoffed once again and shook her head with a smirk on her lips, already asking herself how it would be to have sex with a girl. She raised her sight again, only to see right on time how Rachel jumped in the water. But there was no time to be moody, since Mrs. Boreas loud voice indicated the start of the lesson.

"Alright girls, everybody who hasn't warmed up yet, do it now and then gather around!"

* * *

Quietness.

Chloe loved it when the pool was entirely empty and she was the only one swimming. Only some faint sounds were still chiming from the dressing rooms, but soon, they were gone as well.

"Finally!" Chloe sighed as she was lying on her back and let her body float over the calm water.

"Chloe," yelled Mrs. Boreas from the office of the building, disturbing the peace. "I appreciate your effort, but I wanna lock down the building, so move it!"

"A-okay, Mrs. B!" replied Chloe, followed by a sigh of annoyance, swam to the closest ladder and climbed out of the water.

After picking up her towel and shower supplies, she went for a hot shower. As soon as the water hit her body, she sighed in relief and stripped down her blue swimsuit.

Chloe always used the time under the shower to think and it wasn't any different right now. She reminisced about what Steph had said to her, regarding trying her luck in the girls-department. She definitely was done with Eliot, after he had beaten her up again.

"No more!" hissed Chloe, bumping her fist against the tiled wall. The decision to boot him right after school and be done with it, made. As long as she would stay in public, Eliot wouldn't try anything stupid.

Aware that Mrs. Boreas would bust her ass if she'd waste even more time, Chloe turned off the water and wrapped the towel around her body. She was just about to go for her locker as she spotted Rachel Amber, standing right in front of it, her shoulder leaning against the metal door and her arms crossed.

"Hi, Chloe!" she spoke plainly, her demeanor stern and her words having a serious undertone. "I need to talk with you!"

Realizing that this was a demand and not a request, Chloe crossed her arms as well and gave her a stinky eye. "What do ya want, Amber?"

Being always honest and sometimes bold, Rachel said "I wanna know what's goin' on between you and Max!"

"None…of…your…business, bitch!" blurted Chloe back, closing in and tapping with her finger on the other girl's chest.

However, Rachel didn't appreciate the contact, grabbed Chloe's wrist and twisted, making the taller girl turn around with a groan of discomfort and pinned her arm on her back. But instead of kicking her behind, Rachel released Max's step-sister right away again.

"I don't wanna be your enemy, Chloe!" the actress told her, without any scowl. "So, just tell me. Are you and Max together or is anything else going on between you two?"

"No," said Chloe in defeat, her gaze dropped at first, before she, however, gave the green-eyed girl her darkest, most intimidating gaze. "But if you hurt him, I'll kill your bitchy ass!"

For Rachel, those had been nothing more than empty words. Empty, yet hurtful. Still, she remained her calmness.

"I'm not like that, Chloe."

"Oh, come on!" the punky girl kept on ranting; "You're in the same aloof class like Victoria and those other bitches." And pushed it too far, making the other girl lose her temper.

"I'M NOT LIKE VICTORIA!" she yelled into Chloe's face, which caused her to take a step back as she was entirely surprised by this outbreak. "You stupid cunt don't know me, yet you dare to judge me!"

She closed in on Chloe, her index finger hovering dooming in front of the strawberry-blonde's face, which caused her to fell some fear.

"Despite you, I care about others! I help people and support them! But you…you always keep for yourself and don't even give a rat's ass about others! You're an egocentric asshole, who always whines about how bad she's treated; who needs to fuck up all the time to get some attention. You're nothing more than an attention-whore, who sells her dignity to…"

During Rachel's entire rage against her, Chloe's eyes got more and more watery by the second. Her jaw clenched as tension and anger was building up inside her, until it was released in one big blow.

"SHUT UUUUUP!"

SLAP!

Rachel didn't even realize the fast, flat hand that was connecting with her right cheek in merely a glimpse of second later. The immense force that Chloe had put behind this smack, threw the actress' head against the metal locker, leaving a dent in the door.

Rachel Amber went down, a bleeding wound on her forehead, and all Chloe had been able to do was watching this event with big eyes in slow-motion.

Additionally, Mrs. Boreas entered the dressing room not a few seconds later as she wanted to check out what the commotion was about. The broad woman stopped right in her tracks as she saw the bleeding, unconscious girl on the floor.

Right at this moment, Chloe realized what she had done; realized that she had just gone too far. That she had physically hurt someone. Not only someone, but the most popular student of Blackwell Academy and on the top, Max's crush.

As the shocked girl gazed into the merciless, anger-filled eyes of her PE teacher, she only managed to say a whiffed "I-I'm sorry…" with trembling lips, before she buried her face in her palms and broke down on the spot.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The infirmary. Back in her reality, Maxine hadn't even seen it once from the inside. But in this timeline, it was the second time within two days. And again, Chloe was the cause Max had ended up here.

The blonde teenager sat on the bed, arms wrapped around her angled legs and face pressed deep into her thighs. She was done, yet Max didn't feel the need to comfort her, because he was pretty angry about what his step-sister had done.

Sure, it had been evident that Chloe didn't get along with Rachel in this reality. But beating her unconscious was something not even Maxine would've expected from her best friend.

But truth to be told, up until now, Chloe hadn't told anyone what really happened. Not even her step-brother. So, nobody really knew the circumstances of this incident. And from everything what Maxine knew about Rachel from the other reality, the possibility was high that two bold characters simply had collided and Chloe – edgy as she was in this reality – eventually threw the punch.

'_I can't let her alone with this! You promised yourself to protect her, Max! Now woman…uh, man up and talk to her!' _chided Maxine herself internally as she tried to overcome her anger.

"Chlo?" Max spoke softly, his tender touch on her shoulder making Chloe to look at him with puffy, red-cried eyes.

"I hurt her," she replied with a trembling voice, new tears emerging from the corners of her eyes. "Max, I'm so sorry! I…I never meant to…I-I snapped and…"

"Ssh, it's okay!" soothed Max, sitting down beside the crying girl and stroked slowly over her back. "What happened?"

This was the point, Chloe averted her brother's gaze again and started to sob. "I'm so sorry!" she whimpered, "I…I was so stupid!"

After some time of intense crying, she eventually managed to speak up again, her voice still brittle.

"Rachel asked me if we have something going on and I…I just…I told her that there's nothing and then things got fucked and I…I kinda lost it!"

Maxine – and probably even Maximilian – knew Chloe way too well to tell, if she's lying or just telling half of the story, and it wasn't different this time, which made Max somehow furious.

"Bullshit, Chloe! You're not the type to smack someone because of something that trivial! Now, spill!"

Chloe had always been like a tiger: strong, but lonely and also feisty when being cornered. So, instead of telling Max how Rachel had thrown the truth right at her and Chloe simply reacted with violence to silence her, the punky girl saw red again.

"Why don't you ask your precious Rachel?! You care more about her anyway. So, go and maybe she'll moan it out loud while you fuck her bunkhole!" yelled Chloe, with so much hate and venom that even the school's nurse was staring at her with a dropped jaw.

Max, however, was hurt very badly. With watery eyes and trembling lips he got up again, hardly able to suppress a sob as he spoke "What happened to you, Chloe?"

"Life, Max!" she blurted back, "Life happened to me. But someone like you, who always got his ass carried by his still alive mother won't ever understand!"

This had been the last straw. With a quiet "Fuck you!" Max turned on the spot and stomped away with angry steps, almost colliding with William.

"Whoa, Max! What the…?!" he said, but couldn't even finish to ask what happened as his son-in-law just walked past him. Yet, he already had a very good idea of what had been going down.

"Chloe, what's going on here?"

"Fuck off! Leave me alone!" retorted the blonde, giving her father an angry glare.

Yes, William Price was tired of this behavior. Yes, he would've loved to go all berserk on his daughter, yet he didn't, because the tall man knew it would end up in a disaster. Therefore, he took a very deep breath.

"Chloe…what's going on with you? First you break away from me and Vanessa, and now even Max? Granted, you've all right to be pissed at me, but Vanessa and Max? They both care about you a lot and never did anything wrong."

It boiled inside of Chloe. She didn't know why or how to suppress it, and was almost about to burst again, as the infirmary's door swung open again and Principal Wells – a broad, baldy, Afro-American man in his fifties – stepped in and gazed at the young blonde patronizingly.

Instantly, Chloe realized that a lot of trouble was heading her way, personified by the head of this school. All her rage was vented by a hissed "Shit!" as Mr. Wells spoke out her name in a mixed tone of 'a matter of fact' and satisfaction.

"Miss Price…Why wasn't I surprised to hear your name as Mrs. Boreas reported this outrageous incident?"

Though she wasn't about to explode anymore, Chloe never was able to suppress any witticism when talking to authoritarian persons like the Principal.

"I don't know. Maybe because you secretly wished for me to fuck up big time?"

"Mr. Wells!" spoke William to the Principal and reached him his hand, hoping to step in before things got worse.

Luckily, William's intervention worked as Raymond Wells shook his hand and gave him a kind nod. "Ah, Mr. Price! As much as it's a pleasure to see you, I also dread every moment we meet. Though, I fear that it will be the last time under such circumstances."

The room was filled with a dense silence as everybody realized what was about to happen. But – though he knew how adamant Principal Wells was in his decisions – William wouldn't let his daughter get that easily expelled.

"Mr. Wells, please don't let us get ahead of ourselves. My daughter hit another student, yes. But before we take any irrational actions, we should at first find out what really happened."

"Mr. Price," the bald main said, over-vocalizing every word to underline his statement. "Your daughter did not only hit just a fellow student, but also one of our most aspiring one."

"Oh, so now you're categorizing your students into normal and aspiring, too?" Chloe threw in, her arms crossed and her demeanor stern. "And I thought grouping them into _normal_ and _high-risk_ was fascist enough. But I guess it was just the tip of the fat iceberg. What's next, _rich _and _poor_?"

"_High-risk?_ I hear that word for the first time. And, indeed, it's more than questionable to make the kind of punishment dependent on the social status of the victim!" supported Will his daughter, crossing his arms as well.

"Mr. Price, I won't discuss any school-internal procedures with you!" was the principal's answer as he tried to avert this topic. But knowing that he had Wells in a vulnerable position, William kept on firing.

"Mr. Wells, I'm actually shocked to hear that you allegedly categorize students after their social status. Especially from a person like you, who's supposed to be exemplary, this is nothing more than pathetic! And I don't wanna hear any decisions regarding my daughter's future at this school until we know all the facts…OR I'll report these more than discriminating methods to the school board!"

Raymond Wells was a person, who had to deal with a lot of things, and threats of rich parents, who demand a special treatment for their children, was one of them. So, it didn't come as a surprise, when the principal didn't show any sign of being intimidated by William's words. Yet, it was also clear that they had at least some effects on him, evident by a rather long pause and the following answer.

"Miss Amber will be in hospital until tomorrow, so I'll set an appointment for tomorrow afternoon, 4 pm. Nonetheless, will Miss Price be suspended from any classes until then."

"Then we'll see us tomorrow!" replied the red-haired man, but only received an emotionless "Have a good day!" by Wells, before he left the infirmary.

Another long moment of silence occurred, which was broken as Chloe jumped from the bed and stuck out her middle-finger towards the door.

"Stupid fascist fucker!" hissed the strawberry-blonde before she gazed at her father with a slight smirk. "Nice going, Dad!"

But William was everything else but happy with his daughter, neither did feel the need to team-up with her at the moment. "Chloe…" he sighed and shook his head, "…just get in the car!"

"Uh…what?!"

If anything, this reply, consisting of a befuddled sound and a word, made the tall man even more furious.

"Chloe, I said: get in the damn car! And I don't wanna hear any complain or stupid remarks from you for the rest of the day, because I'm tired of this! I'm so tired of fighting for you all the time, only to get your ungratefulness in return! When were at home, you'll go into your room and stay there until Vanessa comes home and then we will discuss what happened yesterday and today, and after that about your future in general! Now, move it!"

But Chloe didn't move. She stayed in place, her arms crossed again and her demeanor sour.

"Oh! So, you're tired of me?! Want me to jump off the cliff, so that you and any other motherfucker in this fucking town can celebrate and piss on my body, huh?! Should I cut my wrists right here?! Want me to…"

"Stop talking such nonsense!" interrupted Will his daughter loudly, grabbing her shoulders to make her look at him. "For once, just try to do better! For once, stop ranting against everybody and listen to me!"

Violently, Chloe wiggled out of her father's grasp and started to yell at him, her eyes getting wetter with every word.

"The hell I will, 'cause everybody hates me! You, Max, everyone at this school…you all wish me dead. But tell ya what: fuck you! I hate you all! Just get out of my life!"

Though he wanted to say something, William didn't get the chance to as Chloe ran past him and out of the infirmary.

* * *

For Maxine, the hospital had always been a creepy and uncomfortable place. She still remembered this one time, she had swallowed her Teddy's button-eye and had to spend a few nights at that very clinic.

Another negative memory was, when Chloe had tried to slide a rail, fell and had broken her wrist. She remembered how she had cried out of pain; remembered how lost she had felt, not able to help her best friend.

After Max had heard what happened in the dressing room, he originally wanted to look after Rachel, but the first thing he was told, was that his crush had been unconscious and on her way to the hospital.

So, the first thing that came into his mind after Chloe had raged on him was to visit the only person he wanted to see at this moment: Rachel.

Taking one last deep breath, Max fought down the last remnants of anger he felt towards Chloe and buried them deep inside, so that they wouldn't overshadow his visit.

A bit nervous, the young boy walked into the hospital and approached the reception. In his right hand, he had a bunch of colorful flowers, which he had bought in town on his way to the hospital.

"Uh…hi!" he said to the nurse, who was sitting at the counter, doing some paperwork.

"Hello, how can I help you?" spoke the mid-aged blond woman with a friendly smile, easing up the tension a bit.

"I'm looking for Rachel Amber."

"Are you family?" she kept on asking, still a smile on her lips, which grew even wider as Max answered.

"Uh…n-no. Just…just a friend," he stammered, blushing and averting his gaze as the nurse let her sight switch between the flustered boy and the bunch of flowers.

"Aww! That's sooo sweet!" she sighed with a high-pitched voice before typing some words into the computer, and as some of her colleagues where now looking at them too, Max wished for nothing more than to sink into the ground. "Room 315, my dear!"

"Th-thanks!" was everything Max managed to say and then tried to reach the elevator as fast as possible. He even punched the call-button several times in false hope that the doors would open faster and was simply relieved when he was finally on his way up to the third floor.

A soft sound indicated that the elevator had reached its destination and the doors slid open. With every step towards Room 315, Max's nervousness increased, and as he finally stood in front of Rachel's room, Max almost wished to turn around on the heel and run away.

'_No, Max! You ran away your entire life, now get some hold of yourself and knock!' _spoke Maxine to herself, inhaled deeply and knocked.

"Come in!" chimed a friendly voice from the other side and with some last deep breath, Max grabbed the handle and pushed it down.

The door swung open almost by itself, revealing the small single-room behind it.

Rachel Amber lay in bed, her body up to her breasts covered with a blanket, while the top of her head was wrapped with a bandage. The young girl's green eyes gazed at Max with a sparkle, while her mouth was forming a friendly yet insecure smirk.

"Hey!" she whiffed, not sounding a bit self-conscious or bold.

"H-hey!" replied Max, his sight once more pointing at his feet.

And again, both stayed silent, until Rachel said "Are those for me?" which almost made Max jump-scare.

"Uh…oh…yeah!" the nervous boy answered, but as he wanted to approach the blonde, he stumbled over his own feet and fell forward, landing directly with his upper body on Rachel's bed. Or better said, his head rested right between the girl's breasts.

It took Max a few seconds to realize what had happened and where he was, but as soon as he became aware of the situation, he gasped and took a few steps back.

"Shit! I'm so sorry! I…"

But while Max was busy panicking, Rachel simply chuckled, picked up the slightly battered flowers from her lap and sniffled on them, whiffing a soft "Thanks! Can you please close the door?"

Dumbfounded, the brunette boy gazed at Rachel. Although not able to form any words, he at least was able to nod and do as she had told him.

"Sit!" she then said with a smile, patting the side of her bed and, once more, Max complied in silence.

'_Gosh! That's so pathetic! I'm eighteen and acting like a fifteen-year-old. Wait…is it possible that my age in this reality influences my doings?!'_

"So…" started Rachel to speak, sounding a bit glum. "Um…sorry for fucking up our date!"

"Uh…what?" was everything Max was able to reply as his brain had a lot of trouble processing the apology and especially the word _date_.

"Max…I know you're probably pretty pissed at Chloe like everybody else, but…" Rachel sighed and looked for a few seconds at the flowers in her hands before continuing to speak. "It wasn't her fault. I provoked and said really mean things to her…I guess, I deserved that."

"No," answered Max, taking one of Rachel's hands. "Chloe shouldn't have beaten you, no matter what you said. But…what did you tell her anyway? She mentioned that you talked about me, but…"

Squeezing his hand firmly, Rachel gazed deeply into Max's eyes, underlining the seriousness of her words.

"Max, it's pretty obvious that I want…more from you than just a plain friendship. And Chloe…she thinks, I'm just gonna use and then drop you like a hot potato. But I don't. I'm not like that. And just the thought that I would do something like this to you…it…it made me sooo furious that I…I just lost it!"

Max didn't reply anything. His jaw had just dropped onto his lab as Rachel confessed to him that she wanted more than a friendship. His mouth went dry and his heart thumbed in his chest like it was about to burst out of his ribcage like a _Chestbuster _from the _Alien_ franchise.

Actually, Maxine couldn't believe her luck at all. Rachel Amber, the school-princess…the most popular girl at Blackwell wanted to date a geek like Maximilian! She even felt so overexcited that the wish to show her affection towards the blonde almost made her lean in for a slight kiss. But a knock at the door immediately stopped those adventurous endeavors before they could be taken into action.

Right away and before the door swung open and a beautiful blond woman, who had a strong resemblance with Rachel, entered, both broke contact and Max got up from the bed.

"Mom!" said Rachel joyfully and spread her arms to take her mother into an embrace.

"Max," the blond girl then spoke after the hug, wanting to make an introduction, "this is my mom, Sera. Sera, this is Max."

'_C'mon, Max, you know the etiquette, so stop staring, be a nice girl…uh, boy and great her!'_

"Uh…h-hi, I'm…"

"Max Caulfield!" completed the mid-aged woman his sentence and shook the boy's hand. "Rachel has already mentioned you quite a few times."

"Mo-om!" mumbled her daughter, turning away to hide her flustered cheeks, which caused Sara to chuckle.

Maxine felt this embarrassment as well and was on the verge of a panic attack, letting her make the decision that it was time to leave and cope what had happened for the last ten minutes. A practical strategy, which had helped her numerous times in her reality, before she got those stupid powers.

"Uh, Rach," said Max, still sounding very nervous, "I-I need to head back to Blackwell. Miss Hoyda's gonna kill me, if I skip her class."

"Yeah, do that!" the blonde replied with a smirk, adding "I should be out by tomorrow, so…"

"Ice-cream after school?" completed Max this time, an inner joy sparking inside of him as Rachel answered "Ice-cream it is!"

With a reached out hand, Rachel signed Max to come closer once more. And as soon as they made contact again, she pulled the young boy closer, embraced him tightly and placed a peck on his cheek.

"See ya tomorrow!" she whispered, "And thanks for the flowers!"

His body entirely filled with hormones and adrenaline again, Max whiffed a nervous "Y-yeah…uh, see ya tomorrow. B-bye, Mrs. Amber!"

"Gearhardt, Max. I never was Mrs. Amber. But just call me Sera, okay!" responded Rachel's mom and watched with a wide smirk how the 15-year-old boy nearly stumbled over his feet as he left the room. "So this was the cute boy you're crushing on?"

"Yeah!" was everything the flustered blonde could say as she fumbled shyly with her fingers.

"Nice catch! As long as he's not an asshole like your father!"

* * *

"Stop trying to kill off Elamon, Steph!" complained Michael 'Mikey' North, an Afro-American nerdy boy with glasses while he was playing _Dungeons and Dragons_ with his best friend, Steph Gingrich.

"As a _Gamemaster _it is my humble duty to send wave after wave of evil monsters in dire hope that our heroes are strong enough to survive the encounters and successfully complete their quests. If they die, it's simply called _natural selection_," she announced theatrically, yet added a slight smirk to it.

Mikey simply mumbled a huffed "Yeah, sure!" as he recalled all those monsters Steph had already brought forth against his character. "So, what will be my next quest?"

"Well, the next quest would be _The Siege of Alvaron_."

"_The Siege of Alvaron_?!" gasped the young boy. "This is an all-nighter!"

It suddenly knocked at the door and both teenagers shared a frown since none of them was awaiting someone. It knocked again and Steph eventually got up and opened.

In front of her stood Chloe whose eyes were red and puffy from a lot of spilled tears. Both girls gazed at each other for some time until Chloe spoke "Uh…h-hi guys!"

And while Mikey answered with a joyful "Hi, Chloe!" Steph only whiffed "Hey! Come in!"

Only a quiet "Thanks!" came over the blonde's lips as she walked in and slumped down on the sofa, her head always bowed and her demeanor sad.

Still holding the door open, Steph gazed at the depressed girl for some time. Not once, in these few years she knew Chloe, she had seen her friend that down. Even Mikey sensed that something was off and decided to leave to give the two girls some privacy for a girl-to-girl talk.

"Well," he said and packed a few of his D 'n' D figurines. "I better go. Promised Drew to help with his homework. See ya later!"

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow!" Steph replied and locked the door after Mikey had left. She then closed in on Chloe and witnessed how awful she looked. Plus that she had dry lips, which told her that she was probably thirsty.

"Want something to drink?"

"Got a beer?" scoffed the punky girl dryly as she tried to act all strong again, which caused Steph to chuckle as she was just glad to lighten up the mood a bit.

"Sorry Chloe. No alcohol allowed in the dorms! How about a soda?"

"Then gimme some sugar, baby!" joked the blonde with a wink and a smirk, causing her friend to say "Be cautious what you wish for!" before she rummaged through her backpack and brought forth a can of soda, reaching it to Chloe, who opened and drank it in one draw.

"So," Chloe eventually spoke, after letting out a muffled belch, "Guess you heard about my latest fuck-up?"

"Indeed, I did," confirmed Steph, sunk down right beside her friend onto the comfy furniture and gazed at her sternly. "And I'm not happy about it. Actually, I'm pretty disappointed in you! Always thought you'd only get verbal, not physical."

Normally, Chloe would've gotten on a full rage if someone was talking that patronizing with her, but not when it came to Steph. Besides Max, Steph was the only person who was allowed to tell Chloe her full opinion, but only because she saw in the brunette nerd a friend who understood her and would never give her any shit without a reason.

"I know, and to tell the truth, I was totally surprised by my own actions," responded Chloe, feeling deeply ashamed and close to crying again. "I never wanted this! I wanted to be left alone and then…then this stupid bitch came and called me an attention-whore, who fucks up only to get fame and then…something snapped. I just gave her a smack and then…then she hit the lockers and…and went down. Th-there was blood and…and then…"

This was the point Chloe did something she usually would never do: she wrapped her arms around Steph and cried into her shoulder.

Stephanie Gingrich, who never had any scowl against Chloe, of course returned the embrace and drew soothing, indistinct patterns over the crying girl's back. Only after some time had passed, Chloe had calmed down enough for Steph to continue the talk.

"So, you never engaged this confrontation?" she asked, brushing some big tears from her friend's cheek and handed her a tissue-box.

"Fuck, no!" was Chloe's truthful answer after she'd wiped her nose clean. "I'd have been happy to never talk to this cunt!"

"Chloe…I know it sounds stupid and probably even illogic to you, but you should tell this to Wells, right in the morning!"

"To what use?" scoffed Chloe in despair, shaking her head. "He's gonna kick my sorry ass out of Blackhell and that's it. Bye-bye, graduation! Hello, unemployment!"

"Stop talking such bullshit, Chloe!" blurted Steph in fury and got up. "You stay at this school, period!"

At first surprised by this sudden outbreak, Chloe, however, just shook her head and sighed "Steph…" But her infuriated friend wasn't done, yet.

"Tomorrow, we'll both go to Wells and tell him your side of the story and…"

Only as Chloe got up as well and touched Steph's shoulder, the nerdy girl stopped her flow of words, giving the punky girl the opportunity to say "Steph, I appreciate your effort, but…why don't you just stick to your rule this time and don't get involved in my stupid decisions, okay?"

Then there was silence. Only two pairs of blue eyes gazing at each other. Steph wanted to help Chloe, since she had always been her friend, starting her first day at Blackwell. Yet, Chloe had also kept her at some distance when it came to her actions and Steph had decided for herself at some point to keep out of every drama that was happening around the school. This strategy had worked until this very day and maybe Chloe was right. Getting involved in this incident and even taking Chloe's side could bring her a lot of resentment, because – as a matter of fact – most students liked Rachel, including Steph, herself. On a longshot, it could even ruin every possible chance to make a move on her in future.

Eventually, Steph gave in to Chloe's demand with a loud sigh of defeat. "Alright, I'll stay out of it. But…" her blue eyes became piercing daggers, "…if you get kicked out of Blackwell, I'm gonna hunt your sweet ass down like an Elf some stray Orcs, got it?!"

Raising her hands in surrender, Chloe replied "Alright! I promise I'll try to keep my butt in this fucking school, cool?"

"You betcha!" spoke Steph and exhaled once more, before she tried to change the topic. "Since you're here anyway, wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure, whatcha got in mind?" answered Chloe with a shrug, sitting down on the sofa again, while Steph pulled a DVD from her shelf.

"How about a classic you can't get enough of?"

As Steph held up the movie _Blade Runner _with a wide smirk, Chloe just cheered with a loud "Fuck, yes!"

The brunette reached the DVD to her friend and said "You put the disc in the player and get comfy, while I'm gonna order us some food!"

* * *

'_I still can't believe I'm dating Rachel Amber!' _thought Maxine, while writing down the events of the day for Maximilian. _'I wonder what the Chloe of my reality would say to this. (chuckles) Oh, she'd probably get so jealous...in contrary to the Chloe of this reality. She's more like jealous of Rachel dating me…and even beat her unconscious for this! (sighs) Gosh, I hope Wells doesn't kick her out of school for this, since it hasn't been her fault alone!'_

'_But I guess Rachel's gonna be fair and tell the truth, tomorrow. Maybe I should try to meddle between those two and convince them to at least respect each other.'_

The sudden buzz of Max's phonesuddenly interrupted Maxine's train of thoughts. She gazed at the display and saw that Rachel had sent him a message, though it was already past 10 pm.

[Rachel]: _can't sleep. miss you!_

[Max]: _miss you 2! can't sleep?_

[Rachel]: _yeah. __shitty hospital. uncomfy bed. need some cuddle._

As Maxine read this last message, she tried to imagine how it would be to cuddle with Rachel Amber, which induced a strong, tickling sensation in Max's body.

[Max]: _and I'd love to cuddle you right now!_

[Rachel]: _just cuddle or…more? ;)_

Now the hot feeling in Max's stomach began to wander deeper and was turning into arousal, which literally forced Maxine's mind to imagine even smuttier pictures.

'_Oh my dog, Caulfield! Get a freakin' grip of yourself! Your pants are already getting uncomfortable!'_ thought Maxine with rolling eyes as she tried to control the hormones that were rushing through Maximilian's body.

[Max]: _just cuddling!_

[Rachel]: _yeah. sure. boys and just cuddling. LOL!_

[Rachel]: _fun aside. mom feels sry that wells fcks over our date and invites u to dinner tomorrow. wanna come?_

For a long moment, Max just stared at the display, his thumb hovering over the virtual buttons of the touchscreen. The answer was simple, yet to reply so hard when the need to just crawl under your desk and hide was so strong. Eventually, the young boy typed in three simple letters.

[Max]: _yes_

[Rachel]: _:)_

[Rachel]: _see ya tomorrow! luv ya!_

Once more, Max was just stunned, the butterflies in his stomach going bonkers and the hormones clouding his mind. Barely had he managed to write a plain _See ya!_ before he dropped his phone on the desk.

'_Holy shit, I'm such a hopeless wreck when it comes to such stuff! I'd love to stay in here for the rest of my life instead of dating a hot girl like Rachel.'_

With a groan, Max buried his face in his cupped hands and tried to steady his labored breathing. But as soon as his eyes were covered and calm quietness took over, pictures of Rachel Amber were popping up right in front of him. At first, it was just her beautiful face; this smug smile on her lips. But soon, it was her entire body.

Though, Rachel Amber clearly belonged to the upper class of Blackwell Academy, her clothing spoke an entirely different language. Wild and a bit punky, it clearly stated _I don't give a fuck about you elitist assholes!_

But as cool as her normal garments were, Max's mind was more interested in picturing the blonde in her tight swimsuit, which didn't hold back with the details of her body, and not much later, her imagination erased that piece of scarce clothing as well.

"Ugh, fuck it!" groaned Max in his hands and started the browser of his phone, typing in _How to masturbate_.

'_You gotta be kidding me!' _gasped Maxine, as she looked and browsed through the results. _'Porn. Porn. More porn. Yuck, even more porn! Ugh, I just need a fucking manual, how boys masturbate!' _she yelled internally in frustration, the need for a relief almost unbearable. _'Maybe I should just ask Wikipedia, they seem to know everything,'_ the inside a boy's body captured girl joked and was even more surprised as, indeed, there was a slight description on how to do it.

'_Okay, doesn't sound that…well, hard. Let's give it a try!'_

Max slid down his sweatpants and boxers and stopped as he gazed at his erected penis.

'_Oh boy!'_

After a big gulp, he hesitantly touched it softly, with cold, sweaty, out of nervousness trembling hands.

'_This feels so strange, yet arousing and…oh gosh, so embarrassing!'_

Reading the article once more, Max started to put the written words into practical use. Being entirely unexperienced and sometimes overwhelmed by additional strength of Maximilian's body, the first stroke was way too rushed and hard.

"Ouch, dammit!" he cursed, trying to suppress the emerging pain and checked if everything was still attached.

'_Damn, that hurt! Reminds me of the first time I tried to stick finger inside of me. Maybe I should do it slowly.'_

After the pain had abated and no other harm was done, Max tried it again. This time, gentler.

'_Okay, that…that doesn't feel so bad. Actually…it…it feels good. Holy dog, it's really been awhile since my last time!'_

Soft moans were chiming through the room, intensifying with every passing minute until they peaked into slightly louder, yet muffled groan as the climax approached. Maxine realized that something was flowing out of her sex, but was neither able to hold it back nor to give it any deeper thought.

'_Holy fuck! I so needed that!' _the young photographer thought, coming down from the high of the climax.

Max's breathing was heavy and time after time his entire senses kicked back in. Just now he realized that his right hand felt somewhat sticky.

'_What the…?' _thought Maxine and gazed at her crotch, gasping as she realized the mess down there. Max's hand, legs, shirt and even the desk and the phone were sprinkled with a white, sticky liquid.

'_Eww, gross! That wasn't part of the description! As a girl I was at least able to keep it secretly in my panties, but this…?! How am I…?!'_

Just now, Maxine remembered the box of tissues in Maximilian's drawer and was now realizing that wiping your nose didn't seem to be its only purpose.

'_Okay, being a boy is just gross! At least, when it comes to this!'_

With a sigh, Max grabbed the first tissue and started to wipe up the mess, starting with his hand. At least, the need for relief was gone now.

* * *

Her face was enlightened by the display of her phone, which was held up by her left hand. Her cheeks flustered, soft moans escaped Rachel's full lips as her gaze was fixed on a picture of Max Caulfield. One of numerous pictures she had secretly taken since she had started to have a crush on the one year younger boy.

The blanket which was covering her body moved slightly, where her right hand was tenderly massaging her nether region.

"Oh Max!" she quietly groaned as her body began to spasm so much that she had to roll on her side until her orgasm had been rode out.

Then all that could be heard in the dark room was her heavy breathing. Slowly, she pulled her right hand out from under the cover and wiped it clean on the bed sheets. One last time, she glimpsed at the photo and gave it a tender kiss.

"G'night, Max!" she whispered, closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.

* * *

A long, deep yawn escaped Chloe as she stretched her limps while the credits of the movie were rolling over the screen.

"What a fucking great movie!" she eventually said, looking with a grin at Steph, who was yawning herself.

"Yeah," she proclaimed, got up and stretched as well with a big groan. "And I think it's time to go to bed now!"

But while Steph started to gather her toiletries and pajama, Chloe stayed frozen on the spot, scratching the back of her neck as she tried to find the right words.

"Uh, Steph…?" she spoke shyly and made her friend to turn towards her. "C-can I…? I-I mean, home's fucked right now and…uh…I-I…well, I kinda…"

"Of course you can stay for the night," spoke Steph nonchalantly with a shrug. "Already wondered when you'd finally ask. Just wait here! I'll fetch you some stuff when I'm back."

The door shut close and Steph was gone. Letting out a long exhale of relief that the brunette hadn't thrown her out – which, in her mind, would've totally fitted this shitty day – Chloe relaxed a bit and sauntered through her best friend's room.

Movie posters, DVD-Collections, half-painted tabletop-figurines, artworks…this was a real nerd-lair and Chloe loved it, because deep inside she was such a geek, too. Though, she never showed it to anyone…except to Max, Steph and Mikey.

Ten minutes later, Steph came back, now dressed in a long, dark-blue pajama. She threw the bundle of clothes in her hand onto the sofa and then rummaged through her closet, bringing forth a blanket.

"Here ya go!" she said, handed it Chloe, turned off the main light and then went to bed. For another minute, the blonde didn't know what to do and just stood in the middle of the from a nightlight dimly lit room until she was about to lie down on the couch. But as Steph said "If you wanna wake up and feel like hit by a train, then sleep on the couch. Otherwise I recommend that you share the bed with me."

As Chloe turned around with big eyes, she saw how Steph was petting the free space on the bed, a wry smirk on her lips. It was her first sleepover at Steph's and she hadn't quite expected that.

"C'mon, I don't bite!"

Gulping down a big lump of shyness, Chloe just nodded and began to strip down her clothes until she was only wearing her slip and a t-shirt over her black bra, before she lay down beside Steph.

"Good night, Chloe!" she said and turned around.

Chloe however kept on lying on her back, gazing at the ceiling while her mind struggled to come to rest. But it was no use. The events of the day had just been too much and – as always – Chloe couldn't find some sleep. Time passed by and her thoughts kept on drifting. She already put into consideration to get up again and take a walk around Arcadia Bay and then probably go home again, but then out of a sudden Steph asked "Can't sleep, too?"

At first being taken aback, Chloe just watched how the brunette turned around to face her.

"Got that since I was a kid. It has something to do with my brain. They prescribed me some pills, but I hate drugs and rather kill a can of coffee in the morning instead of taking that shit. What about you?"

"Got it since my mom died," began Chloe to tell with a melancholy voice. "PTSD-induced. Mostly, it's because I'm afraid to fall asleep and then wake up all alone. But over time it has evolved into becoming some regularly shit. I already tried everything: pills, weed, tea, booze…even fucking yoga 'n' shit!"

"Can't imagine you, doing yoga!" Steph chuckled, which got answered by Chloe with a scoffed "Me neither!"

"Y'know," Steph then said after she had stopped giggling. "Sometimes, masturbating helps."

Not sure if she had heard right, yet still entirely taken aback, Chloe gasped "What?!" But if she thought, Steph would start to laugh and proclaim it a joke, she was entirely wrong, since the brunette stayed serious.

"You never got, that you're lying awake, thinking about trivial and boring things, until your mind eventually wanders off and you start to think about sex?"

"Uh…y-yeah! I-I mean, you always end up with sex, right?"

She tried to sound cool and even a bit amused, but deep inside, Chloe's heart and mind was racing. It wasn't the talking about sex per se, but this was the first pillow talk she ever had with Steph and she somehow felt so excited and nervous about it. But her entire world went completely upside-down as Steph whiffed a warm, shaky breath of easement right into her face.

"St-Steph…? Wh-what the fuck are you…?"

"I'm trying to fall asleep, Chloe." was the brunette's softly moaned answer as she gazed at the petrified blonde with half-lidded eyes. Just now Chloe realized the familiar rubbing sounds and movements under the other girl's blanked, and it aroused her right away.

"You can join in, if you want to!" added Steph with a smirk and, as if a strange force was guiding Chloe's hand, she let it sink deeper along her body until it dipped into her slip. Her excitement was actually so high that she groaned a loud "Fuuuuck!" as soon as she made contact.

And there they were: two girls masturbating beside each other. A situation so hot that, after a few minutes, Steph couldn't hold back anymore, leaned in and kissed her friend.

At first, Chloe didn't react at all, making Steph worry if she had overdone it and therefore let her break the kiss. But, unexpectedly, Chloe took over the initiative, by pulling Steph's head closer again and reengaged the kissing.

It didn't take long before both girls weren't able to keep their hands just by themselves and explored each other's bodies.

"May I?" whispered Steph as her fingers had stopped at the waistband of Chloe's underwear, and with a moaned "Fuck me, Steph!" the last barrier had fallen.

At this solemn night of passion, Chloe forgot everything that had been bothering her. Eliot, William, Vanessa, Max, Rachel, Wells…They all didn't matter as her feelings were only fixed on one person: Stephanie Gingrich!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The next morning, Max was woken up by the chiming of his phone. Lazily and drowsy he searched for the device on the nightstand, finding it as another sound emerged from it.

With half-lidded eyes he gazed at the display and groaned as he realized that it was just 7 am. But as soon as he read the messages, a wide smile appeared on his face.

[Rachel]: _rise n shine, sleepyhead! :)_

[Rachel]: _still miss u. can't wait for tonight_

[Rachel]: _wanna meet for a minute before Wells?_

[Max]: _morning! miss u 2_

[Max]: _definitely!_

[Rachel]: _:D _

[Rachel]: _still_ _gonna annoy u with my txts all day long though! _

[Max]: _do that. my phone likes to be abused XD_

Now filled with joy, because being remembered that Rachel was as good as his girlfriend, Max got up with smile on his face and a happy melody on his lips.

This high amount of joy even lasted until he had showered, dressed and slumped down on the chair at the dining table, a mug of coffee and a bowl with cereals in front of him.

Next of his family to join, was William with kindly spoken "Morning, Max!"

"Morning!" replied the young boy, unable to hide his splendid mood. But while his step-father seemed to notice it and gave him a frowned smirk, Vanessa seemed to ignore it as she joined the breakfast and even was a bit agitated.

"Morning, sweetheart! Have you seen Chloe? She isn't in her room and neither left a message nor responds her phone."

In merely a second, Maxine's mood took a nosedive as she began to worry about Chloe, according to the experiences she had made in her reality.

"Uh…n-no. Last time I saw her was yesterday in the infirmary."

"William," Vanessa then sighed unnerved, "it can't go on like this! Chloe's out of control! First her bad grades and skipped classes, then she appears drunk at school and yesterday, she beat up another student. That a teenager breaks some rules or stays away overnight is no problem – dammit, I wasn't even better at her age – but no matter what we say or do, she ignores it, and I'm so tired of this!"

"Van, darling, I know what you're talking about…and I fully agree!" added William, sighing and dropping his gaze in defeat. "I don't know what's happening to her. Six months ago she still was my happy girl, and now…"

But as Max thought the ranting would only be against Chloe, he was taught differently as his mother turned her attention towards him.

"And you, Maximilian…You're still grounded and it's unacceptable that you stay away from home without asking for our permission!"

Entirely taken aback that he was now the target of his mother's anger, Max just stammered "B-but I…uh, I was just visiting someone at the hospital!"

"Oh really?" asked Vanessa suspiciously, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "And who did you pay a visit?"

Max froze for a moment as heat was crawling up his face, making him blush. Actually, he hadn't planned to tell his parents, who were both staring at him now, about the budding relationship with Rachel.

'_C'mon Max, sooner or later they would've found out eventually,' _said Max to herself with a groan.

"A…a-a girl." was everything Max could bring forth, fixing his gaze onto the table. But while Vanessa was still giving him a raised eyebrow, William's eyes widened as he plainly said "Oh!"

"_Oh_ what?!" the brunette woman asked quizzically and received a slight nudge with the shoulder from her husband.

"He visited a _girl_!"

And while Max became even redder, his mother's eyes opened wide as she gasped a loud "OH!"

From one second to another, Vanessa's anger entirely dissipated. With overflowing giddiness she walked around the table and took her son in a tight embrace, speaking joyfully "Aww, my little Maximilian has a girlfriend!"

"Mo-om!" the young boy protested with rolling eyes as he tried to free himself from his mother's hold. But everything he achieved was that the mid-aged woman backed away a bit, held his shoulders and gazed at him intensively with her sparkling eyes.

"Why haven't you told me that you're seeing a girl?"

"B-because it's not even official, yet and…uh…i-it's kinda embarrassing!"

This answer brought the brunette boy a slight, playful push by his mother. "Oh come on, you don't have to be ashamed! We're happy for you. What's the lucky ones name, anyway?"

Feeling already very uncomfortable by all this shame, Max just wanted to get away or at least that the topic would change. Which eventually occurred as the front door got opened. Downside: the next topic would suck even more, evident as Vanessa's formerly good mood vanished and was replaced by an angry growled "Chloe Elizabeth Price!"

* * *

Chloe felt all comfy and warm as she woke up. She knew where she was and she knew that last night wasn't a dream, which became even clearer as she felt Steph's warm body on her own.

Both were still naked from their latest activities and slept in, arm-in-arm, and kept this position until this very morning. The blonde girl inhaled deeply and enjoyed her lover's sweet, slightly sweaty fragrance that was filling her nostrils.

She really welcomed this relaxing and soothing moment of happiness by just laying still. Until Steph groaned softly and stretched her limbs as she slowly awakened.

"Morning!" whispered Chloe softly, combing through her best friend's brown hair.

"Morning!" returned Steph with a soft smile, gazing back at Chloe with half-lidded eyes. "Had a good sleep?"

"The most awesome for months!"

Chuckling softly, Steph sat up which caused their blanket to rise and glide down, revealing both of their naked beings. "See! Told you, sleeping in my bed is better than the sofa!"

"Waaay better…and much more satisfying!"

Grinning sheepishly, Steph wrapped her arms around Chloe again and kissed her passionately, which caused them both to slump down onto the mattress. Unfortunately, the momentum was so high and sudden that it let them roll off the bed and fall to the ground with a pair of shrieks and a loud thud.

"Ouch! My ass!" complained Chloe as they were lying on the carpeted floor, Chloe at the bottom and Steph on top. Immediately both laughed out loud, which slowly abated as both stared intensively at each other again. "So," Chloe then spoke eventually in a soft tone, brushing a stray strand of hair out of Steph's face, "should I call you girlfriend now?"

"Only, if you gimme the right answers to two important questions!" was the nerdy girl's answer, which of course made Chloe frown.

"Okaaay…shoot!"

"What about you and Eliot?"

Noticing, that these questions weren't a joke, but rather serious, Chloe's mood got dampened a bit. Yet, she knew that Steph took her love-life indeed very seriously, which was okay and important, considering Chloe's rather forced relationship with Eliot.

"Fuck Eliot!" the blonde nearly spit out, not wanting to think about her abusing boyfriend. "I'm gonna dump his sorry ass today!"

"That bad, huh?"

Realizing that this topic triggered some negative feelings in her friend, Steph hugged her some more and even let some soothing kisses follow.

Nonetheless, Chloe was starting to get annoyed by the Q 'n' A session and simply said "Next question?"

Knowing that the next question wouldn't improving Chloe's mood and therefor killing this formerly romantic atmosphere, Steph got up and put on her pajama pants.

"What is with you and Max?"

Deep inside, Chloe had felt that this question would've come, sooner or later. What about Max? Not the first time she had heard this question and last time she had beaten some certain girl unconscious for it. But Steph? She would never hurt or insult Steph Gingrich! Not in a billion years and especially not for a question, she didn't have an answer for.

Steph – smart as she was – felt Chloe's inner struggle, closed in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, adding a minute later.

"Tell me, when you have an answer! Until then, we'll stay friends...with benefits, of course! And now, let's get dressed! You need to go home and shower and I need to prepare for classes."

Like a whirlwind, Steph finished putting on her pajama, grabbed her toiletries, gave Chloe another peck on the lips and left for a shower. The blonde, however, needed some time to finally put her thoughts in order and get dressed. Having put her phone on mute yesterday – because she knew she'd get some annoying messages – she eventually took a peek at the display, noticing that she indeed received numerous texts.

The first bunch was from her dad and Vanessa. Already knowing their content, Chloe simply sighed, rolled with her eyes and deleted them all.

The next one was from Max, saying that he wanted to talk with her.

'_Well, at least not all hope is lost!' _Chloe thought, being glad that her step-brother was still talking with her. Maybe she should use this chance to finally make things clear between them and give Steph the answer, she wanted to hear.

The last message was from Eliot.

[Eliot]: _Meet me behind the pool!_

"Da fuck?!" she mumbled, already feeling the trouble that this message foreshadowed and remembering what she had told herself.

[Chloe]: _at the fountain in ten_

Not waiting for an answer, she put her cellphone away and was about to leave, as Steph came back, her body wrapped in a towel.

"You still here?!" she asked with a slight frown and stripped the towel without any shame in front of her friend.

"Well, I thought about gettin' down on you again," she said with a smirk, eyeballing the other girl's naked body again. "But figured it would take all day long and I so don't wanna get you in trouble for skipping classes."

"Gee, thanks Chlo. How generous!" With a wide grin, Steph closed in once more, embraced Chloe and planted another kiss on her cheek, before whispering into her ear. "And as a reward you can spend the next night here again, if you want to."

Right away, Chloe's cheeks reddened once more upon this very seducing offer, making Steph giggle as she then finally got dressed and both left the nerdy girl's room. They hadn't even put one step into the hall as Victoria's arrogant voice chimed from close-by.

"What the eff is the trash of Arcadia Bay doing here?"

But while Chloe just rolled with her eyes in annoyance, Steph intertwined her arm with that of her friend's, answering with snarky "Oh, despite you, she had an awesome, sex-filled night!"

"Blech, you slutty cunt-lickers are just disgusting!" the blonde returned with a scrunched-up nose and sauntered past them in a fast pace.

"Guess it's time for you to get banged yourself to finally get that stick humped outta your ass, Icky-Vicky!" Chloe then additionally called after her, which caused Steph to chuckle once again.

"Eww! That was very graphic, y'know?! Though, I must admit that she has a sweet ass. Sadly…it doesn't outweigh her ugly character."

"Yeah, her uber-bitchiness turns her into an ugly hag…and hopefully didn't get you on her shit-list!"

"Don't worry," said Steph eventually, "Firstly, she's just all bark and no bite. Secondly, as the Stage Manager I've got some leverage on her, 'cause I could kick her out of the play in no time, if she gets too bitchy on my butt!"

Taking a glimpse on her phone, Steph sighed loudly as she realized how late it already was. "Listen, Chloe, I need to go. Mr. Keaton awaits me in the drama lab. See you tonight?"

"Definitely!" was the blonde's answer and after receiving another peck on her cheek by Steph Gingrich, she witnessed how the nerdy girl left the dorms.

* * *

The weather was warm and the sunrays were highlighting the first yellow-painted leafs of the fall. Most students of Blackwell wanted to use the opportunity to enjoy these last warm days by spending as much time outside as possible before the coldness of the winter would have Arcadia Bay in its merciless grasp.

Right after Steph had separated from her in the dorms, Chloe had used the time before meeting with Eliot to smoke a cigarette and then sauntered slowly towards the fountain. That she would be 10 minutes late didn't bother her in the slightest.

Eliot was already waiting for her, arms crossed and his demeanor sourer than a lemon.

"Is it that hard to be punctual for once!" hissed the brunette boy, taking a angry step towards Chloe, who, however, wasn't intimidated by this and simply crossed her arms as well.

"Actually…yes!" she retorted, "Now spill. Whatcha want?"

His head already turning red, yet forced to keep down his anger, Eliot started to whisper-yell his rant. "Your behavior is embarrassing and out of line! Appearing drunk in school? Acting like a thug? People are talking about your fucked up shit and this starts to shed a bad light on _me_ and my family!"

"Oh boo-hoo! Want me to squeeze a tear outta my eye?!" Meeting such insubordinate behavior again, Eliot's hands were clenching into fists, which Chloe realized on the spot. She had him were she wanted it. Now it was time to draw the final line. "Y'know what, Eliot? If I'm such an inconvenience to you, how about we end this between us right now?"

The young boy was now on the verge to blow up, but he was literally forced to suppress his grudge towards his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend.

"You take that back, RIGHT NOW!" he yelled, making the surrounding students look at him with bewilderment, while Chloe just gave him a smirk.

"Nope, I'm hereby dumping your ugly ass, motherfucker! So, fuck y-…"

SLAP!

As the flat hand collided with her left cheek hardly, Chloe stumbled, tripped and fell into the fountain. The surrounding audience gasped in unison upon witnessing this act of violence. And while some students were helping Chloe out of the water, Eliot realized what he had just done and ran away. Some of Chloe's skater friends tried to stop him, but since he was very sportive they didn't stand a chance.

"Chloe, you alright?!" said Dana Ward, a beautiful brunette cheerleader, as she helped the entirely drenched blonde to stand upright.

"Yeah," she replied, rubbing her red cheek and following with her gaze her abusive ex-boyfriend.

"You should report this to Wells!"

"I consider it," answered Chloe, "Already have an appointment this afternoon. Thanks for your help!"

The blonde was about to just leave as she was, but got stopped by Dana right away.

"Where are you going?"

"Home," said Chloe with a shrug, not seeing a sense in the cheerleader's question. The beautiful girl, however, just gave her a warm, caring smile.

"You'll catch a cold if you walk. C'mon, I'll give you a ride!"

* * *

"Chloe Elizabeth Price!"

Vanessa's agitated voice rang in Chloe's ears like a thunderstorm. She had barely set one foot in the house as she was greeted with her shouted name. And immediately she knew that inevitable trouble was awaiting her.

With slow, hesitant steps she walked into the living room, where three pairs of eyes were ogling her pity being. And of course it was Max, who spoke to her with concern as he saw her wet clothes and bruised cheek.

"What happened to you?!"

But the blonde girl wasn't even able to reply anything as her step-mother spoke up again.

"Have you been in a fight again?!"

It sounded more like an accusation then a question or even concern, which was eventually another sting in Chloe's heart and literally forced her to turn around on the spot and head into her room without another word.

Max, who was actually pretty agitated by his mother's accusing behavior again, simply said "I'm gonna talk to her." and made his way to Chloe's room as well.

Not knowing what was about to await him, the young boy took a deep breath before knocking at the door. "Chloe?" he asked cautiously, his hand already on the handle. But then the door got ripped open and Max surprisingly pulled into the room, where he stumbled and landed on his step-sister's bed.

Chloe, now wearing her old, rundown bathrobe, closed in on Max and gazed at him from above, her reddened cheek now more obvious than before.

"Wh-what happened?" he asked, trying to get up, but was pushed back onto the mattress by the blonde.

"I broke up with Eliot and made this fucker finally showing his true face in public," Chloe answered plainly, now starting to climb atop her step-brother who frowned at her in a mixture of bewilderment and anxiety.

"Ch-Chlo…wh-what…?!" he stammered and as his sight wandered a bit down he could look into the bathrobe's cleavage, making him realize that Chloe was naked under it, which caused his body to go on full alert.

"Mmh, like whatcha see?" chimed Chloe's seductive voice as she was now lying on top of Max. "I feel you're enjoying this. So...how about we're doing it? Right here, right now!"

Maximilian's body literally screamed to say "Yes!" and the young boy probably would've accepted this more than tempting offer, if it hadn't been for this female counterpart in his head.

'_Okay Max, I know this would be a dream coming true, but…Chloe acts so strange and if I'm doing this, I'd fuck over Rachel and…she's way too nice to do this to her! So, fight those hormones and stop this!'_

"Chloe, stop!" whispered Max as the blonde had already leaned in for a kiss, making her freeze in her movement.

"Why?" she whiffed back, bringing her pursed lips closer, but got eventually pushed away before making contact.

"Because we have an agreement…"

"Fuck that agreement!"

"…and I'm dating Rachel!"

This was the moment Chloe eventually stopped her doings and gazed at her step-brother with a sour expression.

"You gotta be shitting me?"

"No," replied Max, shoved Chloe aside and got up with a sigh. "Chloe, I'm serious. Rachel's my girlfriend now, like it or not."

With a loud scoff, the blonde got up as well and started to rummage through her closet for fresh clothes, saying "I warned ya!"

Not wanting to either listen to Chloe's judgmental rants about Rachel anymore or talking about her strange behavior from before, Max simply changed the topic to something that came pretty short in the first place. "So, you dumped Eliot, huh?"

"Yup!" chimed it from inside the closet, followed by a mumbled "Where the fuck's this stupid bra?!"

Clearing his throat loudly, Max made Chloe to turn towards him. From the index-finger of his right hand was dangling the black, searched-for garment. With a timid "Thanks!" she snapped it quickly.

"And he hit you again?"

"Yeah," was the only sighed answer, which made Max a bit furious, because he was only fed with those small snippets instead the whole truth.

"Chlo, you stay away overnight, come back home entirely drenched and with a red cheek. Mom and Will are furious and already thinking about a serious punishment. I wanna help you, but for that I need to know more!"

Glaring at her younger step-brother for some seconds, Chloe eventually slumped back down on her bed and signed him to sit down right beside her, before she began to tell him everything that had happened.

* * *

The bell rung and signed the end of classes for that day. Most students would now head outside and enjoy the remainder of the day or doing their extracurricular activities.

Like the other students, Max packed his stuff quickly, however, not because to get some more spare time, but to make in time to principal Wells' office to meet with Rachel.

Eventually, he was one of the first to exit the classroom, then ran downstairs and as soon as the young boy had reached the lobby, he already saw his girlfriend together with her mother. Not wasting another second, Max rushed towards Rachel, whose wound was now only covered by a small Band-Aid. Also, she had already spotted him as well and was now awaiting him with a wry smirk.

Immediately, both embraced each other tightly and enjoyed being together again, entirely shutting out their surroundings and not caring that a lot of students were glimpsing at them.

"I missed you!" whispered Rachel, tightening her hold while Max inhaled her rosemary-flavored perfume and then exhaled "I missed you, too!"

"D'aww, look at those two!" suddenly chimed Vanessa's voice at the witness of this young love as she, William and Chloe arrived. Sadly, it also made Max feel embarrassed, which caused him to break the hug with a sighed "Ugh, Mo-om!" while Rachel snickered upon seeing his reddened cheeks.

Chloe, however, had just crossed her arms and gave the other girl a mistrusting frown.

"Mrs. Amber, I presume?" asked William Rachel's mother, already reaching his hand for a handshake.

"Not quite," she answered taking his hand. "Name's Sera Gearhart. But you can call me Sera!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sera!" Vanessa threw in, shaking the other woman's hand as well. "And I'm sorry for all those inconveniences!"

"They're kids, what should I say?" was her from a shrug of her shoulders accompanied, nonchalant answer.

"Kids shouldn't solve conflicts by hitting each other, Miss Gearhart!" suddenly sounded the deep voice of Blackwell's Principal, Raymond Wells, earning everyone's attention. "Let us bring this unpleasant inconvenience behind us as quick as possible!" he eventually added and greeted everyone with a handshake as Rachel, Sera, Vanessa and Ryan enter his office. But when it was Chloe's turn, Steph appeared from the crowd of students, took Chloe in a tight hug and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, saying "Good luck!"

"Miss Price…?" urged the principal the young blonde, signing her once more to enter, which she eventually did.

Max and Steph remained outside in the hallway, damned to wait until the meeting was over.

* * *

The tension in the office had already reached its heights even before Principal Wells had closed the door and walked over to his big, fancy desk.

"Miss Amber, Miss Price…please, take a seat!" he said, pointing at the two chairs in front of his giant desk while sitting down as well. After the girls had sat down and their parents had taken place behind them, the principal took one deep inhale before starting the meeting.

"I think we all know why we're here. Yesterday, Miss Price viciously attacked and injured one of our most exemplary students, Miss Amber. I don't need to say that this represents a clear violation of our zero-tolerance-politic regarding violence and is punished with immediate expulsion from any educational activities up to a permanent ban from our school grounds.

Mrs. Caulfield, Mr. Price, there's no reason to whitewash the fact that this would be the second major infraction of your daughter in a row, beside her constant disregard for our rules, and would leave me no other choice than to expel her from the Academy permanently. But…since there are always two sides of a medallion, I want to hear out both parties before making a judgment."

He paused for a moment, letting his last spoken words sink in, which didn't really help the already tightened up atmosphere in the room.

"Miss Price! Why don't you-…?"

"Mr. Wells!" Rachel suddenly threw in, interrupting the Principal, who immediately frowned at her. "I-I think it would…um, spare us some time, if I start."

"If you insist, Miss Amber. Please, tell us your side of the event."

"It was my fault!" she spoke, bowing her head in shame. "I provoked and cornered her. Yes, she smacked me in the face, but neither did she want to beat me unconscious nor was she searching for a confrontation." Rachel then shifted her sight to Chloe, who was already gazing at her with an arched eyebrow. "Chloe, I…I shouldn't have called you an attention-whore and hereby apologize for my rude and hurtful words."

The entire room stayed quiet. While Chloe and her parents, plus the Principal simply stared at Rachel and let her words sink in, Sera laid one hand on her daughters shoulder to give her support.

"Miss Price, is that true? Did Miss Amber provoke the situation?" boomed Wells' deep voice as fixed his glare on the delinquent girl again, who stayed quiet for some time.

But instead of answering the Principal's glare, Chloe held her scanning glance on the other girl, not knowing if she planned to lure her into a trap. Eventually, this was her chance to put most of the blame upon Rachel and therefore save her behind as well as reveal that she's not that perfect princess, everyone was seeing in her. But eventually, it was the truth and so she spoke "Yeah, she provoked it. I just wanted to be alone and she kept going on my crack!"

Everyone could see the disappointment that was rushing over the Principal's demeanor for a fraction of a second before he successfully suppressed it.

"Well, if that's the case, it would shed the entire incident in an entirely different light. However…" he said sternly, leaning forward while giving Chloe a deep glare, "…this does neither justify nor excuse your doings, Miss Price! You still committed a violent act and appeared in school clearly under the influence of drugs. Both are severe infractions and can't be punished mildly. Taking in consideration your efforts for our swim team and your good grades, I'll hereby suspend you from all educational activities for this entire semester with a chance for reinstatement in spring and additional two-monthly probation."

"Mr. Wells…" William tried to intervene once more, but was shut down by Mr. Wells' upset voice right away.

"Mr. Price, yesterday you asked me to wait with my sentence and hear out the other side. I did what you asked and now, since I'm the Principal of this school, I can choose how to take administrative actions against my students as long as it's under the board's regulations."

Taking a deep breath to calm down, he then eventually continues.

"Considering the amount of infractions your daughter has already summed up over the last year, I'd say that I'm more than fair to her. Not everybody gets another chance and two months of probation is common after a suspension. Now as for you, Miss Amber…" he kept going and focused on Rachel, who still had her head bowed and awaited her punishment. "…I must say I'm more than disappointed in you! As a very good student, the lead actress and the daughter of a District Attorney, you're supposed to be an example for the Excellency of our school. Not only that you're verbally attacked a fellow student, you also searched the confrontation and provoked a situation, which eventually escalated in physical violence. As I said before, it doesn't excuse Miss Price's actions, yet it clearly caused them."

Now the tension rose once more, since everyone awaited the Principal's sentence upon Rachel. Chloe actually waited that the other girl would just receive a bad you-you and that's it, but was, however, entirely surprised from the result.

"Miss Amber, this being your first infraction, I refrain from suspending you, but need to reevaluate your status as one of our leading students. Therefore, you won't be the school's representative student anymore as well as removed as the main cast of our school's play in spring, next year."

"No!" gasped Rachel quietly, tears forming at the brim of her eyes as reality hit her hard.

"Mr. Wells, isn't this too harsh? Rachel loves acting and did a great job as a representative of this school, besides that she's already suffering from her wound, taking this away from her, too seems unduly and counterproductive for me! Who will replace her?" complained Sera, now laying a second hand on her daughter's shoulders, but the principal stayed adamant.

"Crime and punishment, Miss Gearhart! Maybe this will be a lesson for your daughter to think about her future actions. You should consider, however, that she'll still be a part of the play as an understudy and that no credit points will be lost for her. Also, I'm more than convinced that Victoria Chase will also do an excellent job." he said and rose from his chair to underline that the conversation was coming to an end, if it wasn't for Chloe's scoffed "Victoria Chase…yeah…sure."

"I beg your pardon, Miss Price?"

Feeling the principal's stern glare upon her once more, Chloe exhaled deeply once more and everyone thought that she wouldn't reply anything. But they had thought wrong.

"Oh, nothing." she mocked, "You're right! Make a person, who called me and a friend _disgusting cunt-lickers_ the school's representative. Good choice!"

"Chloe, is this true?" now Vanessa asked, taking her step-daughter's side and Sera joined in as well.

"Yeah, is that true?"

"If this is in fact true, then why haven't you nor your friend filed in a report of this, Miss Price?"

"'cause I don't give a damn what this bitch says to me and I'm not a snitch, who calls on others to the Man, no matter who it is."

"And as long as no report reaches me, all those accusations will stay allegations. Nothing more, nothing less. I think you, Mrs. Caulfield, should be familiar with this procedure."

"Bullshit!" Chloe mumbled as an answer, but was ignored by anyone else. Evident, as Mr. Wells simply continued.

"Of course you're all free to file in a complaint against my sentences, but I think I've been more than fair and if there's nothing else to discuss, then we're done and I wish you all a good day!"

With a bunch of mumbled goodbyes, the two girls and their parents were leaving the office, Chloe being the last.

"Miss Price!" chimed the principal's deep voice out of a sudden, making the 16-year-old stop and turn towards him once more with a quizzical frown. "Can I have a private word with you?"

Sharing one last glimpse with her father, Chloe simply rolled with her eyes in annoyance and closed the door with some force before slumping down in one of the chairs again.

"'sup, Mr. Wells?"

"As I mentioned before, I can only investigate incidents that have been reported. Earlier that day, a report reached me, saying that Mr. Hampden hit you in front of several witnesses here on campus. But as I said, it was only one report and knowing that you would be here in my office this afternoon, I wanted to start an investigation by letting you make a statement. So…is it true that Mr. Hampden used physical violence on you?"

Since it happened earlier that day, Chloe had thought about reporting this to Wells and she also knows that Dana had filed in the report. She even had discussed this matter with Max, who also had told her to tell Wells and even their parents.

But so far, Chloe was against it, already foreshadowing that it might raise some uncomfortable questions about her abusive relationship with Eliot. Let alone, that Eliot's father was a high-honored Major in the US-Army, who would use his reputation to bail his son out of this trouble.

She already had experienced it when she had tried to defend herself the first time it happened. They had called her a liar and she even had received a letter from the family's attorney, saying that he would commence legal actions against her and her family, if she would spread her lies throughout the public.

With this secret-kept letter, months of torment had followed as Eliot had now a free hand to let out his psychotic rage on his girlfriend, and only because Steph had given her hope and confidence, Chloe eventually had managed to break this vicious circle. Still, for her this chapter was simply finished and all she wanted to do right now, was to look forward and leave the leave the past behind.

"Not really," Chloe eventually answered. "Yes, we had a fight, but…I kinda stumbled and fell into the fountain. That's it."

Not believing one word, Principal Wells sighed, yet glared at Chloe understandably. "Miss Price, though it sometimes seems like this, I'm not out to get you. My concern is regarding every student at this school and you're no exception! I want to help you, but in return you need to help me to understand the case."

"It was nothin', okay?!" yelled Chloe back and got up furiously as she felt cornered once more. "I tripped, fell, hit my cheek and got wet. That's it! Now, get off my crack, 'cause the rest is none of your freakin' business! Got it?"

"Alright," Wells eventually spoke, wrapping up the conversation. "I can't force you to make a statement. Yet, be advised that, because we're dealing with an act of violence, I have to initiate an investigation, nonetheless! Now, have a good day, Miss Price!"

* * *

Waiting.

Waiting was something Maxine had never been good at, her diagnosed ADH-Disorder not helping with that problem.

Since his family and his girlfriend had disappeared into the Principal's office, Max had walked up and down the lobby restlessly. Only Steph, who entangled him in the one or other conversation, had been able to stop the nervous boy for a few minutes.

"So, did she tell you about us?" asked Steph, who was leaning against the wall, out of a sudden, making her friend stop once again.

"Uh…yeah," he answered, taking place beside her. "She…um…she told me that she spent the night with you."

"You okay with that?"

"Steph," Max replied, giving the brunette a quizzical glimpse, "we're friends and I know for a fact that you're gay. Having Chloe dating you instead of Eliot feels like a salvation to me. Less to worry, more to enjoy! You two seem like a cute couple, so…yeah, I'm okay with that!"

Out of joy, Steph embraced Max in a tight hug and planted a friendly peck on his cheek, saying "Thanks!"

A few seconds later, the door to the Principal's office swung open, which let both friends break the hug.

The first persons, who emerged through the door, were Sera and Rachel, whereas the latter looked entirely devastated and her cheeks decorated with wet lines.

Immediately and without another word, Max took Rachel into a tight, comforting embraced. Quietly, the blonde sniffed into the boy's shoulder, burying her face deep into it while Max drew soothing lines over her back with his fingers.

"What happened?" he said, but received the answer from his mother instead of Rachel.

"She saved Chloe from getting expelled, Maximilian!"

"And we're very grateful for that!" added William and as the blond girl turned her gaze towards the two grown-ups, they were both giving her an honest smile.

"But I…I just told the truth."

"But also could've easily lied to save yourself," mentioned Sera supportively, flinging one arm around her daughter's shoulder. "What you did was selfless and brave, and I'm very proud of you!"

'_Wowser!'_ thought Maxine as she watched how Rachel blushed in modest embarrassment. _'This Rachel is so different from what Chloe had told me. Over-confident, party-girl, drugs, sometimes bitchy, yet friendly to everyone…a real actress and mistress of disguise…that's how my Chloe described her, but…she's actually none of that. Not really. She seems to be fragile and honest…or is this just an act and she's playing with me? No Max, don't think like that! We're totally into each other and she'd never lie to me!'_

Lucky for her, Chloe's appearance distracted her from those warily thoughts as she witnessed how the lanky girl walked past everyone with angry steps, only to embrace Steph's neck and pulled her in for an intensive kiss.

While William and Vanessa shared some bewildered glimpses, Sera just quirked an eyebrow and Rachel looked at the scene flustered with wide open eyes. Max, however, couldn't suppress a wry smirk upon realizing that his step-sister had finally found someone to love.

Before one word could be spoken – not that Vanessa and William had known what to say anyway – Chloe broke the kiss, took Steph's hand and walked with her away.

"Well," Max eventually spoke to his bewildered parents, scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish smile, "I think I should share some news with you."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

For the umpteenth time, Max checked his appearance in the bathroom mirror and combed some astray locks back where they belonged. He wore a pair of blue jeans and plaited dark-blue shirt over a black band-shirt.

'_Am I looking too emo for a nice dinner? But these were the only fancy clothes I found. (sigh) Guess this'll have to do.'_

"Lookin' rad, Maximus!" said Chloe, who was leaning with crossed arms against the doorframe, with a wry smirk on her lips.

"Geez, thanks Chlo! Though I feel more like dressed in some garbage bags, considering I'm going to a dinner with Rachel."

"Pft!" the blonde scoffed, shaking her head. "If you'd be my date, I'd rip those clothes off of ya and fuck you senseless!"

Freezing in his movement, Max gazed at his step-sister in bewilderment, blushing deep-red. "Chloe! Geez-Louise, you're so impossible! Aren't you supposed to be at Steph's?"

"Yeah," replied Chloe with a shrug, "but I needed some stuff and decided to give you some advice!"

Now turning around, Max crossed his arms as well and quirked one eyebrow quizzically. "You wanna gimme some advice on my dinner with Rachel and her mom?"

"Yup! 'cause I know how guys are ticking up there _and_ down there!"

"Oh c'mon," countered Max, rolling with his eyes, "I'm not like that! Sex isn't everything and I don't plan to get laid tonight. Especially not when Sera is around. Just a nice dinner and spending some time with Rachel, nothing more."

"Oh, I'm not worried about your intensions, but Rachel's."

With sighed "Chloe," and a head-shake, Max walked past the older girl and into his room. "Can you please stop with this stupid Rachel-bashing? She's not like those other aloof bitches at Blackwell!"

To his surprise, he got embraced from behind by Chloe.

"Sorry, dude. I'm just worried about you and don't wanna see you get hurt!"

"I won't," replied Max softly, enjoying the closeness to his step-sister for a short moment before breaking contact. With a wry smile on his lips he turned around to look into Chloe's eyes. "I promise that I'll take care, okay?"

"Damn!" chuckled the punky girl, giving the boy a friendly push, "Looks like I need to get used to that you got another girl in your life…Though she's not so awesome as me, of course."

"For me, you'll always be one of a kind, dork!" gave Max back, pushing her back before giving Chloe another hug.

* * *

His hands were sweaty and his lips already sore from chewing on them all the time.

"Nervous?" asked William, who was driving Max to his dinner with Rachel and Sera, a soothing smile on his lips.

Actually feeling more than nervous, the young boy only managed to nod and as his step-father softly touched his shoulder, Max almost jumped out of his seat.

"Relax!" spoke the red-haired man, "Just remember that, as long as you're being yourself, everything will go smoothly!"

'_Yeah, I and being myself…sure, Will. Ugh, I'd like to vomit and then run away!'_

Before Max knew it, the car stopped in front of an apartment building in downtown Arcadia Bay.

"You got this, big guy!" said Will reassuringly and, once more, just received a nod before the young boy left the car.

Hesitantly, he walked towards the building's door, almost feeling the need to jump back in the car. But as he heard how William drove away, Max knew that it was too late now.

'_C'mon! You can do this, Max!' _encouraged Maxine herself as she forced Maximilian's shaking index-finger to push the bell-button.

"_Hello?" _chimed Rachel's sweet voice through the speaker, which made Max forget to breathe entirely. The spell was only broken as the girl's voice sounded again, saying "_Max, is that you?"_

Now gulping hard and almost chocking on his spit, Max cleared his throat and answered "Uuh…y-yeah. I-it's me…Max…uh…"

'_Oh gosh, how embarrassing!'_

Without another word from Rachel's side, the door buzzed, signing the young boy to push it open and enter the building.

According to the name tags, Rachel's and Sera's apartment should be on the top floor. So, Max took the stairs and kept on climbing upwards until he saw Rachel, standing in the door frame. Right away, both embraced each other in a long, tight hug.

"C'mon in, kids! Dinner is almost ready!" chimed Sera's voice from inside the apartment, and as soon as both young lovers had backed away from each other, Rachel grabbed her boyfriend's hand and pulled him inside.

The door closed behind Max, who stripped off his jacket and hung it onto a coat hook. After he also got rid of his shoes, he looked at Rachel, only to realize that she was scanning him from head to toe.

"Max! Welcome to our humble home!" spoke Sera as she wiped clean her hands to give the boy a short hug as well. "Look at you," she then continued, "Nice getup!"

"Um…th-thank you, Sera!"

"Come, I show you around!" suggested Rachel and led Max through the apartment.

It consisted mainly of four rooms and a corridor, whereas the latter was pretty ordinary: A rag for coats and jackets, a shelf for shoes, a commode for small things and a mirror to take a final check on your appearance.

Behind the first door to the right was a small bathroom. Toilet, a sink, a tub with shower, shelves with toiletries, another mirror and a holder for towels. Just everything two persons needed.

Right opposite the bathroom was another door with a violet lily painted on it.

"This is my mom's room. Totally off-limits for us!"

"So, you never go into your mom's bedroom?" asked Max, only knowing that, back in her reality, Maxine had always been allowed to go everywhere in hers and her parent's home. Of course, Rachel somehow expected this question and put on a friendly smile.

"We live like in a commune. Everybody has their own private space and all the social stuff happens in the living room. This way, when I or Mom gets our bitchy times, we can retreat into our refuge and calm down without pissing each other off."

"Sounds reasonable." agreed Max, knowing how bitchy Vanessa could get, adding "And where's your refuge?"

"Can't wait to see my space for some privacy, huh?" replied the blonde with a sheepish smirk, making her boyfriend blush a bit. But with only another giggle she led him to a door with a big yellow star painted on it. "Ready?"

Rachel had already pushed down the handle as Sera said "Rachel! Max! Dinner is ready!"

"Well," Rachel commented with a sigh, letting go of the handle, "looks like we have to continue our sightseeing later," but then immediately smiled again. "Hope you're hungry!"

"I could eat a whole whale!" replied Max, his rumbling stomach underlining his words. So, with another chuckle, Rachel guided him into the living room.

As every modern living room, it had a round dining table, a TV, bookshelves, and a comfy sofa. The walls were decorated with a lot of pictures, showing Sera and Rachel together on numerous occasions. Strange, though, was the fact that those pictures must've been taken in the near past, evident on how old Rachel seemed to be on the photos.

Just as Max and Rachel had sat down, Sera walked from the open kitchen to the table, a big bowl filled with spaghetti and meatballs.

"Hot 'n' greasy, y'all!" announced Rachel's mother as she put the meal on the table and took her seat, as well.

"Thanks, Mom!" spoke her daughter, followed by Max's "Thanks, Sera! And…uh, thanks again for inviting me to dinner!"

"No need to thank me, kids. I just want you both having a good time! Now, dig in!"

Greedily, Rachel put a big load of food on her plate, which landed on it with a squashy noise. Timidly, she mumbled "Sorry!" as both, Sera and Max, looked at her with a stunned demeanor.

Yet not wanting her to feel ashamed or to get chided by her mom, Max did the same and, to both teenager's surprise, Sera didn't say anything, but simply shook her head with a wry smirk.

The first minutes, all three ate in silence, simply enjoying the meal, until Sera gulped down a bite and said "So, Max. What's your major at Blackwell?"

"Uh…Arts."

"Max is an awesome writer!" threw Rachel in without waiting, adding right away, "You should read his fics! Or you remember last year's play? Max rewrote the script and wow! Everybody loved it, and I…"

As Rachel realized that both, Max and Sera, were looking at her with wide open eyes again, her flow of words came to a halt with a quiet "Sorry!"

"So, I guess, you and Rachel share some classes?" Sera then continued, like nothing unusual had happened.

"Uh…yeah. Quite a few." confirmed Max, sounding a bit insecure upon Maxine not knowing exactly how many lessons Maximilian shared with Rachel, which ended in complete silence as Rachel's mother asked the wrong question.

"And when did you two fell for each other?"

'_Shit! I don't have any idea when Maximilian fell for Rachel or how much interaction was between them, before I barged into the picture.' _thought Maxine, just realizing that she could easily talk herself into a trap, which could endanger her relationship with Rachel. Lucky for her, the blond girl loved to talk about her love-life.

"I was into him the first time we met. You remember that?"

Answering the question with a fake smile and a plain "Yeah," Maxine made a mental note to find out more about some details, regarding him and Rachel.

"Steph, our stage-manager, one day brought Max into acting class and introduced him as our new script writer, since nobody wanted to play an original Shakespeare book and we needed to pep it up a bit."

"Oh, I remember! I already wondered who turned _The Tempest _into _Star Wars_." said Sera, gazing in astonishment at her daughter's boyfriend. "Good work!"

'_Maximilian turned a Shakespeare classic into Star Wars and didn't get expelled for this blasphemy…?! Wowser, that's really awesome!'_

"Anyway," Rachel continued, "The first moment I saw him, I knew that he was special and I…I tried to make a move, but…ugh, I was such a chicken!"

Now seeing an entirely new facet of Rachel Amber, Max simply stared at her entirely stunned while Sera gave her daughter a warm smile and a reassuring touch on her shoulder.

"Don't worry! Nobody said that love is an easy ship to sail. Eventually, it worked out for you two and that's what matters! Now, how about some dessert?"

Saying "Yeah!" in unison, Max and Rachel nodded in confirmation.

"Max, you gonna help me with the dishes?" Sera then asked, already standing up and gathering the cutlery. Of course, Max couldn't say no and already felt that there was something going on.

Both had arrived in the kitchen and while filling the dish-washer, Sera glimpsed over her shoulder to make sure that her daughter was still in her seat before speaking quietly to the timid boy.

"I hope you're not playing games with my daughter, only to get laid!"

Though this allegation came out of nowhere, Max understood Sera's worry, shook his head and answered truthfully "N-no, I…I really like her."

"Then, when did you fall for my Rachel? If you really care for her, you'd remember such things and not just stammer while your girl is all fire and flames."

'_Okay Max, stick to your version of the truth. In the end, I'm the one in love with her right now, not Maximilian.'_

"Actually, I somehow had a crush on her for some time, but…I-I think I never intensified things, because Rachel always seemed out of reach. I-I mean…you know how awesome your daughter is a-and then me…and her…Ugh, it seemed so unrealistic, until…"

"Until…?" kept Sera on pushing, greedily waiting for the truth with a frown.

"Until last Monday," spoke Max with some relieve, somehow glad to finally have it off his chest. "It was like an epiphany as she walked into Chem and our sights met. Gosh, that smile she'd given me…"

Out of a sudden, Sera's stern demeanor vanished and was replaced by a warm smile.

"That's what I wanted to hear."

"Hear what?" Rachel's voice suddenly chimed. The blond girl was leaning with her hip against the counter that was separating the kitchen from the living room, her arms crossed and her glimpse stern.

Sera knew this expression way too well, telling her that her daughter had already overheard most of the conversation and trouble was inevitable.

"Rachel…" she eventually said with a sigh, trying to defuse the situation, but didn't get any further as the 16-year-old cut her off.

"Spare your breath, Mom! I heard enough!" she spoke and closed in on the other two. Max almost felt the need to run away or at least talk his own way out of it, until he was surprisingly taken into a tight embrace and received a faint peck on his cheek. With some reluctance, Rachel broke the hug, yet still kept her arm flung around her boyfriend's hip while smirking at her mother.

"And I hope it showed you how _hella_ awesome my boyfriend is."

A collective sigh of relieve went through the kitchen as the tension fell off of Max and Sera while Rachel simply giggled.

"Now c'mon! I wanna eat some of that ice-cream!"

* * *

[Chloe]: _I'm at the dorms_

Chloe put down her phone and kept on looking at the entrance of the girl's dormitories, knowing that it was only accessible when you've got a room, and therefore the fitting key.

Nervously, she walked up and down the concreted way in front of the building, waiting for Steph to finally emerge.

Truth be told, she was nervous…very nervous! Originally, the blonde had thought that she and Steph would spend the evening in the nerdy girl's room, playing some games, watching a movie and do some talking, before eventually going to bed and having some nice girl-on-girl action. But before Chloe had even headed towards Blackwell, Steph had texted her to wait in front of the dorms.

Multiple times the door swung open, but every time it wasn't Steph. Most students ignored Chloe, busy with themselves or being in a conversation with a friend. Only Dana and Juliet stopped for a short chat, but then still walked on.

Finally, Steph stepped out of the building, dressed in some normal blue jeans and wearing her typical grey beanie. But instead of a plain shirt or hoodie, the brunette now wore a flannel button shirt to spice up her getup.

Upon seeing her girlfriend, Chloe's heart began to race while butterflies performed a flight show in her stomach. It was actually the first time she felt like this and it kind of scared her. Luckily, Steph's warm smile, her embrace and her soft lips ended the panic attack and let the blonde girl simply enjoy the moment.

As both backed away a bit, the taller girl took a deep inhale of her girlfriend's flavor with closed eyes.

"I missed you!" she eventually whispered with a lovestrucked smile, which earned her another peck on her lips.

"Missed you, too!" was Steph's reply, adding "Ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Our first date," was the plainly spoken and with a shrug underlined answer, which made Chloe quirk one eyebrow dumbfoundedly.

"A date? Like…y'know, candlelight 'n' shit?"

Being used to Chloe's bold side and already suggesting that she never went on a real date before, Steph simply gave her a playful bump, a smile and reached out with her hand, which the blonde took immediately. Hand-in-hand, both then walked over the campus and headed towards the town's center.

"Chloe," Steph then started to explain, "though the sex with you was awesome and I'm already totally into you, I'd like to start our relationship by getting to know each other better, and a nice dinner is the perfect opportunity for some Q 'n' A."

"Sounds reasonable. Soooo…watcha wanna know about that awesome gal here? Always thought, I'm an open book to everybody."

"Well, if you consider yourself an egocentric, misanthropic asshole with drug-problems, then this would be true, _but_…I know there's more to you than this. So, just tell me what's goin' on this big head of yours!"

"Actually…" replied Chloe after a short pause, as she not really knew what to answer, which was also evident how she scratched the back of her head and searched timidly for words. "Not that much."

"Huh!" was everything that came spontaneously out of Steph's mouth as they kept on walking. "So, you're telling me that your head is totally blank right now?"

"Well…I, uh…" started the blonde, but suddenly stopped walking any further, sighing deeply. "UGH! I'm not good at this feelings-stuff, okay!" it suddenly blurted out of her and then wrapped her arms around her body as self-doubts overwhelmed her. "Maybe…maybe we should end this right here, right n-…"

Chloe's panicky spoken gush of words was eventually silenced as Steph pressed her lips on her mouth. And once again, the butterflies in her stomach went wild. This intense flood of feelings became so much that she then wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pressed her closer.

A few minutes passed until the kiss finally was broken and Steph whispered "You were saying?"

But Chloe didn't reply anything, but just buried her face in the brunette's shoulder and sniffed as all emotions became too much to bear.

* * *

"Welcome to my domain!" announced Rachel as she opened the door to her room and turned on the light.

Max, who was now stuffed with a lot of ice-cream, followed with insecure steps and got immediately overwhelmed by the interior.

'_Wowser!' _gasped Maxine as she saw the room's getup. The clear main motive was stars. Wall-stickers, a big map of star constellations, astrology charts and many other references that showed how much the blond girl was interested in that topic. The other theme was acting, depicted by movie- and musical-posters, tickets and so on.

Furthermore, on the right wall was a queen-sized bed and a closet while on the opposite one was a desk and bookshelves situated.

"Wowser!" now Max spoke out in astonishment as he spun around to take in the entire decoration, while Rachel slumped down on her bed, following him with her gaze and a big smirk. "It's obvious you like stars."

"What's not to like about stars?" answered the blond girl, gazing dreamily at the ceiling. "When the sun has vanished beyond the horizon and it's dark outside, the stars are still there for us. They give us light, hope and guidance to our destination and through life."

"So, you think that the stars are defining our fate?" asked Max back, sitting down beside his girlfriend and gazed deeply in her catching green eyes.

"Destiny, Max. Like guidance on our path through life to our final destination."

"Does that mean that all those fortunetellers on TV are right?!"

With a chuckled "No, dummy," Rachel gave Max a soft push letting him fall onto the mattress. "What I wanna say has nothing to do with this hocus-pocus on TV. The stars aren't telling us our future. They're just guiding us to our destiny. They're telling us who we are and where're we going, not our destination."

"Okay…too high for my simple brain," scoffed Max and shifted his sight to the ceiling.

"I think I can help with that," returned Rachel, got up and turned off the light, ditching the room in darkness. Immediately, Max's heartrate increased and his breathing became a bit shallow as he didn't know what was about to happen. Deep inside, the 18-year-old Maxine wished that Rachel would do lewd things.

'_Gosh, Max! You became such a horndog…UGH!'_

"Ready?" chimed Rachel's voice through the darkness and not a second later a click followed.

From one moment to another, the entire night's sky was projected throughout the whole room. And while Max looked at the awesome scene in front of him, his girlfriend laid down beside him and grabbed his hand.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" spoke the girl softly and as the brunette boy answered "Like you!" she gazed at him dumbfounded, with blushed cheeks.

Both teenagers' heads moved closer while blue eyes kept staring at green once. Their slightly pursed lips had almost touched as a knock on the door broke this solemn moment.

"Rachel!" sounded Sera's voice through the door, "Sorry to disturb you guys, but your dad is on the phone, complaining that you don't answer yours."

"Tell him, I'm calling back later!" her daughter shouted back angrily, clearly frustrated.

"He said it's important. And I don't wanna hear his babbled complains that I'm trying to keep you away from him, again. So, move it!"

"UGH!" groaned the blonde loudly, hammering with one fist on her bed and jumped up. "Stupid motherfucker!" she additionally mumbled before leaving the room without another word and slamming the door shut.

Max simply stared at the closed door with wide open eyes.

'_Damn, what was that? I've never seen her like this. It was like an entire different, angry person had taken over.'_

It didn't take long until Rachel returned. Still being agitated, she sat down on her bed with crossed arms and said "Y'know what I hate? When someone changes a plan from one day to another and assumes that it doesn't bother me."

"What happened?" asked Max in concern, sitting up and brushing over the blonde's back in an attempt to calm her down. And surprisingly it worked pretty well as Rachel's tension immediately abated.

"My dad. He's going on business travel next week's weekend and now wants me to spend this upcoming one with him."

"Well, I guess it could be worse, couldn't it?"

"I hate my dad, Max," sighed Rachel in return, "and I don't want him to ruin our date, so…" Right away, like switch had been turned, her demeanor instantly changed into the other direction, letting her smirk and speak with anticipation. "Let's play a game!"

"A game?" spoke Max with a frown, being kind of confused, which didn't bother his girlfriend at all.

"You know _Two Truths and a Lie_?"

'_Two Truths and a Lie?! Wasn't this some kind of a party game? Bummer that I never was a party girl.' _thought Maxine, answering truthfully "Uh, no. Not really."

"No prob, it's pretty simple." commented Rachel and started to explain. "I'm gonna tell you three facts about me, whereas two of 'em are true and one is a lie. And you have to find out which one's which. Got it?"

"Aaand what if you're telling me more than one lie?" was Max's suspicious question, which got answered as his girlfriend leaned towards him with a mischievous smile.

"Well, looks like you have to trust me on that."

And only a slight nod later, Rachel began the game.

"Okay, first fact: I was born in New York, the city of Broadway and opportunities. And one day, I'll return back there and perform on the greatest stages of the world!"

Immediately and without waiting for the second fact, Maxine already started to think Rachel's words through.

'_Okay, the last part I totally stamp to be true, 'cause Rachel is stage-material. Be it as an actress or model. But the fact about her, being born in New York…absolute bull. I know for a fact that Rachel was born in Long Beach. Reading school files for the win!'_

"Fact two: I'm a Cancer-Lion cusp, which makes me creative, passionate, loving, devoted, and diplomatic, but also self-centered, volatile, possessive, and dramatic. So, prepare yourself for a full package!"

'_Thanks to the school files…again, I know that her birthday is on the 22__nd__ of July. Let alone that Rachel Amber is one of the most complex characters I've ever met. Not even Chloe comes close to that. So, definitely a truth!"_

"Third fact: I'm not a virgin anymore."

'_Uhm…okay, I should stop looking like a drooling, horny idiot right now! Actually, it would've surprised me, if Rachel would still be a virgin, because damn! Who wouldn't hit on her?'_

While Max gathered his thoughts, silence filled the room, which was eventually coming to an end as Rachel said "A penny for your thoughts, Max!"

"How about a Dollar?" joked the 15 years old boy with a wink and got another playful push and chuckle by Rachel in return.

"Just tell me what you think, Scrooge McDuck!"

"Okay, fact one," began Max, pausing a short moment to keep the tension high. "You wanna conquer the stages of the world and make New York bow…totally a fact, but you weren't born there."

"What makes you think that?"

"Your accent and the usage of the word _hella_. So, definitely a lie!" he said self-confident, always in mind that Maxine had read the file. Yet, it was impossible to tell, if he was right or wrong since Rachel kept on her poker face.

"Oooh, someone's looking at the details. Fact two?"

"Cancer-Lion cusp? Yup, totally buying it! You're so into stars and astrology that you'd never mess around with it. Besides that the description fits your deep character on the spot."

"Hmm…sounds reasonable, Detective Caulfield, and I take it as a compliment. But what about fact number three?"

At first, Max hesitated to give an answer, not knowing how to approach the topic without insulting his girlfriend and therefore endangering the fresh relationship.

"Uh…well…um…" he stammered, inhaled deeply one last time and then said "I-I think it's true."

Right away, Rachel's neutral demeanor faltered as she gave the young boy a frown. "And what makes you think that?"

'_Fuck! I think I've hit the wrong nerve.' _cursed Maxine, already preparing to get a lot of heat as she was sailing those hostile waters. _'Maybe I can somehow calm her down. So, talk for your life, Max!'_

"Well…" Max began, clearing his throat to gather the right words. "As a fact, y-you already told me one lie and one truth. And…uh…y-you're so beautiful a-and…"

"You think I'm a slut?" spoke Rachel quietly with a dropped gaze, without any anger or scowl, like she was already thinking this of herself.

"N-No!" spoke Max quickly as he was taken aback by the girl's comment and already was about to blame himself for this. "I-I actually meant that you're so beautiful that even only by chance s-some guy must've already been the lucky one."

"But it's a lie," solved Rachel the enigma, looking with confidence at into Max's blue eyes. "I only had one kinda boyfriend back in Long Beach and we…we never went past _First Base_."

"_First Base?_" asked Max with a frown, not familiar with the nomenclature of dating. Yet, the revealing answer didn't come in form of words, but with a sudden and rather long kiss on his lips, which stunned him entirely. His mind went blank and his body went haywire as raging hormones were flooding the young boy's system.

Slow and cautiously, Rachel stopped the kiss, whispering softly "That's _First Base_."

Already yearning for more, both teenagers wrapped their arms around each other and let their lips softly touch each other multiple times in short pecks.

It was a special and peaceful moment for them, which let both forget the world and its problems. Wells, school, Victoria Chase…everything just became unimportant. For Maxine it was like the first mental vacation since she had moved back to Arcadia Bay. So, it didn't come with a surprise that she never wanted to leave this reality ever again.

Sadly, this little bubble of peace and quietness got popped as Max's phone buzzed and rang constantly. At first, he wanted to ignore it and was already paying all his focus on Rachel. But as his smartphone kept on ringing, the brunette boy backed away from his girlfriend with an annoyed groan and gazed at the display with a skeptical frown.

"Steph?" he gasped in surprise and, to Rachel's displease, took the call.

"Hey Steph, 'sup?"

[Steph]: (with a trembling voice, whaling of a siren in the background) "Max…Some-…something happened. We…we were attacked. Chloe…she's hurt, pretty bad. I…We're on our way to the hospital…and…and…" (sobbed heavily)

"Steph? STEPH?!" yelled Max into the speaker before the call got canceled. With trembling hands he held the phone and stared at the display. Right away, all those horrific memories flooded Maxine's mind, reminding her how often she had already lost Chloe, only to revive her with her powers eventually and then to see her die again and again.

"Max, what happened? Is something wrong with Steph?" asked Rachel with worry and brushed softly over Max's arm as she realized how devastated her boyfriend was.

"I-I'm sorry, b-but…but I need to get to the hospital. Steph…Chloe…they…" he said hastily, almost failing to speak at all.

"Shit!" cursed the blonde and jumped up right away. "C'mon! We take my mom's car!"

* * *

Delightfully, Chloe stuffed the last remnant of her pepperoni-pizza into her mouth, savoring every bite.

"Mmh, damn!" she mumbled while chewing, "This place is really the shit! Never ate such delicious pizza before!"

Steph, who was also chewing on the last slice of her pineapple-pizza, replied "Glad you like it. Only few people know how awesome the food here is."

"So,…" continues Chloe, drinking the last bit of her coke to flush down the last bite, "…what have you planned for the rest of the evening."

Being flustered a bit and playing timidly with the straw of her drink, Steph said "Well…I thought, maybe…we can…y'know, get back to Blackwell and…"

"Get busy?" completed the blonde with a wry smirk, which turned into a sheepish grin as her girlfriend answered with a shy nod. "And I thought you wanna go slow?"

Huffing out some air, Steph let her shoulders drop a bit and confessed "Chloe, I wanna be honest with you. You're hot and, so far, everything went perfect and romantic and…ugh, this all kinda made me hornier than a succubus."

Kind of taken aback by this confession, Chloe just managed to say "Umm…" before the waitress interrupted this awkward moment.

"You guys had a good meal?" asked the young, black-haired Hispanic waitress, who was wearing a white-red-green colored uniform. As both teenagers confirmed the question, she put a small tablet with the bill on the table and already picked up the two big plates.

"My treat!" insisted Steph right away as Chloe was about to pull out her wallet.

"Steph, you don't…" she tried to counter, but went silent as the other girl raised her hand as a sign to stop arguing.

"Chloe, I'm on a full scholarship, my mom works as a theater-manager and my dad is an important editor in Hollywood. So, money isn't really an issue."

After putting the cash for the dinner plus a good tip on the tablet, Chloe and Steph grabbed their jackets and walked back to Blackwell, holding hands.

"I wonder how it is to have lotsa money," spoke Chloe out of a sudden, already expecting a rant from Steph's side as she's almost thrown in a bowl with those rich kids of the Academy. However, the answer is entirely different.

"Actually…it sucks! Because of their high positions, Mom and Dad are working late. There were times, I only met them for five minutes during breakfast before they vanished to work again. Missed school-events and trading cards tournaments, Happy-Birthday wishes through the phone…it…it just sucked!"

"Wow, that really blows!" replied Chloe with pity, brushing a few times soothingly with her thumb over her girlfriend's hand.

"At least both of my folks are still alive. Gosh, I can't even imagine how it would be to lose my mom."

'_Sorrow!'_ was the word that immediately came into Chloe's mind. How does it feel to lose your mom? There were thousands of words in the world to describe deep sadness, hurt and despair, but none of them would really fit.

"At first," began Chloe to tell with a heavy voice, "it's like she has gone away without saying goodbye. But soon, you realize that you'll never see her again, and then you start to forget the details. Her smell, her voice, her laughter, her warmth…Everything fades until there's only this fucking husk of an image and old photos left."

"That's…that's just sad!" commented Steph, the brim of her eyes welled up. She suddenly stopped walking and then took her girlfriend into another tight, soothing embrace.

Around them was just silence, nobody was wandering around the dimly lighted streets of this part of the town during this time. Both – Steph and Chloe – were so focused on comforting each other that they didn't realize how a figure emerged from the shadows of an alley and quietly closed in on them, a baseball bat in the right hand.

As the hard wood hit Steph between the shoulder blades, she went down with a groan.

Entirely surprised and stunned by this sudden attack, Chloe just managed to gasp and see her girlfriend crumbling to the ground. And as she rose her gaze again, she looked into the masked face of her attacker, witnessing the hate-filled gaze he was giving her with his blue eyes, before the baseball bat hit her right on the head with full force.

Chloe's world went dark and only faint sounds and feelings still reached her mind as her body fought against the upcoming unconsciousness.

She feels how she's hauled somewhere. How someone was pulling at her clothes. Then she felt uncomfortable, intense pain, accompanied by a strange noise that sounded like a constant groaning or mumbling…she simply couldn't tell the difference. But eventually, all of this faded in the distance as her body gave up the fight.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Waiting.

Waiting for a sign.

Waiting for a glimpse of hope.

For the last few hours, Max and his parents, as well as Rachel had been waiting for some news, regarding Chloe's condition.

Right after Steph and Max's step-sister had been brought to the hospital, they had put her into surgery. The word was about severe concussion and brain damage, but actually, nobody really knew any details. So, everything came down to stay put and wait until someone would tell them about Chloe's current condition.

Though Steph's injuries weren't as worse as Chloe's, the doctors had decided to keep her at the hospital over night.

Now being in a entirely confirmed relationship, Max had laid his head onto Rachel's shoulder, while the blonde was brushing with her fingers through his brown hair.

"She's gonna be okay!" she whispered soothingly, trying to take some concern from her boyfriend, who literally shot straight up as a doctor approached him and his family, who were doing the same.

"Doctor, how's my daughter?" asked William right away with concern and got his answer only seconds later.

"Your daughter got just out of surgery and is not in critical condition anymore. However…"

Though at first a collective atmosphere of relieve was filling the waiting room, everyone went stern again as they heard that there was more to come.

"…there is a situation I need to talk with you and your wife, alone."

Both, William and Vanessa, shared a frowning glare and then agreed to follow the doctor, leaving Max and Rachel all alone.

"See, she's okay!" Rachel kept on reassuring, rubbing Max's shoulder. "I bet the doctor just wants to know why she has such a high THC concentration in her blood."

Scoffing about this little joke, Max indeed relaxed a bit and slumped down into his seat again.

"Yeah, I…I guess you're right."

"I'm always right and true!"

As he heard the word _true_ from Rachel, Max remembered that they hadn't finished their little game, earlier. It wouldn't have been a problem, since Maxine wasn't very fond of increasing the risk of saying contradictory nonsense regarding Maximilian's life. Yet, her nosy side wanted to know, which of Rachel's facts had guessed wrong.

"Rach," he eventually spoke, gazing into his girlfriend's green eyes. "Back, when we were playing _two truths and a lie_, you said that the last fact was a lie and I…I believe you. So…the first fact must've been true, but…you are from Cali, right?"

With a loud and long sigh, Rachel let herself fall back against the seat. It was quite clear that this topic – the story behind it – was an uncomfortable one. But it was also evident that Rachel wanted it off her chest. So, Max did the only right thing and held her hand tightly while the heavy words were flowing over her lips.

"You're right, I grew up in Long Beach, but it's also true that I was born in New York." she started to tell melancholy, gazing deeply at Max who saw the sadness and hurt in his girlfriend's eyes. "What I'm gonna tell you now is just that what Mom had told me. But since she's not coming away that good in her version, I believe it to be true, plus that I trust her."

Rachel once more took a deep breath and strengthened the hold on her boyfriend's hand just make entirely sure that he was there for her.

"Mom and Dad...they were kinda the dream team of their Highschool. Dad, the straight-A super-exemplary student and dream of every mother-in-law. And Mom, the beautiful It-girl who everyone wanted to date. Figured, that these two would find to each other and become prom king and queen.

But this was only the dreamy part of the story, 'cause while Dad took life seriously and attended law school, Mom just wanted to live and have fun. So, instead of pursuing a career as an artist and visiting an art school, she rather went to community college and partied the shit outta her life, getting wasted included.

Dad…was just too busy studying to realize that Sera had entered a vicious circle. For a short time it was even so bad that she'd consider herself a drug addict, getting fucked up on a daily basis. Of course, sooner or later she couldn't hide it anymore and Dad…

What followed, were fights…lotsa fights and arguments. And if it hadn't been for me, they would've surely broken up."

For a short moment, Rachel paused and took a shaky breath.

"Yes, I was an accident. An accident that gave their relationship another chance and my Mom a new purpose. It was hard for her to go through the withdrawal, but she did it…just for me.

Mom was in her 6th month as Dad finished law school and accepted a job in New York. A new life, a new place, many new possibilities… They both thought a move would make everything better and for the first time, it was.

Dad made enough money to rent a nice apartment and pay all the bills, and Mom decided to perform arts in her own, little gallery. Painting relaxed her…freed her. She needed it as a therapy.

Then, I came into the picture and for a short time, we were the perfect family, until…"

Again, Rachel paused and then something changed. The blonde's grip tightened on Max's hand until it hurt while she began to speak with an angry voice.

"How could somebody put his fucking job over his family? How could he leave Mom alone with a cry-baby? Why the fuck didn't he help her?"

And from one second to another everything went back to normal, evident as Rachel loosened the grip and her demeanor became sad again.

"I wasn't an easy baby, y'know. I cried a lot, even at night. And Mom had to do everything alone. Dad was at work, coming home somewhat in the middle of the night and slept on the couch to have a peaceful rest, and our grandparents lived on the other side of the states.

Of course, due to the exhaustion and excessive demands, painting wasn't an option anymore. Over time, Mom drifted into a deep depression and one day…

One day, my dad came home early from work and found me, lying on the ground with a bleeding wound on my head while my Mom was laying on the couch, totally spaced out."

Absently, Rachel touched a certain spot on her head, where she felt the slight bump of a scar.

"In a mental breakdown she had thrown me against a wall and then fucked herself up to overcome her regrets.

My dad immediately reacted, packed all necessary stuff and left with me for L.A. to get me tugged in by my grandparents while he would take care of the mess in New York.

By law he cut all strings to Sera and eradicated her from our new started life in Long Beach. A year later, he met and later married Rose and she became my new Mom.

Don't get me wrong, Rose was a great Mom. Nice and caring. She loved and encouraged me and made Dad happy. So, we actually were a happy family again…"

And again, her voice got cold and bitter, tears welling up at the brim of her eyes.

"…if Dad hadn't constantly lied to me so shameless.

Deep inside I always felt that Rose was somewhat off picture…that she somehow didn't fit. As a kid I was just naïve and ignored it. But the older I got, the more questions were forming in my head.

Rose and me shared no similarities whatsoever, but whenever I mentioned it, she became quiet and Dad just swatted the question away and changed topic. Of course, he made me even more curious with his strange behavior than anything else. So I started my own investigation. And at first, I did come out with nothing. Mom and Dad never married, so finding her purely by name was impossible. So, the only place where it was possible to find such info would be my dad's office.

Getting the space I needed to break into his office wasn't hard. Just mentioning to Dad that he hadn't been on a date with Rose for ages and boom...! Two hours without any disturbance."

"I guess, you found something?" commented Max in between, causing Rachel to sigh a whiffed "Yeah." And then continued.

"At first…nada. But then I dug deeper. Maybe it wasn't an inconspicuous method to pull out all drawers and dump the content on the floor by flipping 'em over. However, if I hadn't done so, I never would've found the false bottom.

A whole bunch of letters had been hidden under it. Most were addressed to my dad, but some…some had been addressed to me. And they all hadn't been older than 6 months.

My mom…Sera…she had written to my dad that she was totally clean and sorry for what had happened. She wanted to reconnect with us. Wanted to see me at least one last time. But Dad obviously refused.

I also found a not yet sent letter. In the envelope was a check plus a note, saying that Sera should take the money and back off or face legal consequences if she wouldn't stop contacting us."

Once again, Rachel's hand clenched out of anger has she remembered the events that followed.

"Of course I confronted Dad and Rose, throwing those fucking letters right in front of their feet as soon as they came back home.

I was furious. Yelled. Screamed. Cursed. Rose was so devastated as I called her a false mother and Dad a lying bastard. I demanded to see my real mom and, of course, Dad refused, saying that she's dangerous. But I wanted to see for myself.

This was the moment he told me the whole story. Everything. Finally the truth…or the way how he saw it.

I was so done. Shocked. My whole world had turned upside-down. I listened. I cried. I was furious. I was sad. Everything felt wrong.

I needed some space…Rose and Dad gave it to me and hoped that I would come to my senses again. And I did. Secretly, I had written down Sera's phone number and address.

Though, at first, I was pretty pissed at her for what she had done, I wanted to meet my real mom. I wanted the whole messed up puzzle, my life had become, to be complete.

So, I called her and we secretly met in the city. Our first moment together consisted mainly of tears. Tears of joy. Tears of anger. Tears of disappointment. But we met again. And again. And again.

We talked a lot and I felt that she was sorry for what she had done. She regretted it and wanted to be my mom again. So, we decided to give us a try.

Though my dad was against it, I spent more and more nights at Sera's. He couldn't do anything against it, 'cause otherwise he would've lost me entirely. And I wouldn't have minded.

All those lies. How he had treated my mom when she had needed him the most… I hate my dad for tearing our family apart! Still, I had to see him, since the only thing Mom and I achieved was a shared custody.

As Junior High came to an end, we decided to move away, so that I only had to see him once every two weeks.

Our choice was Arcadia Bay as they have an Arts School and Mom found a job to pay her part of the rent and everything we need to live."

As Rachel had finished her story, she paused for a moment while a faint smile was formed by her lips. "And I'm glad to be here now, 'cause if I hadn't chosen to live here, we never would've met." She mentioned and intertwined her fingers with Max's.

But the young boy stayed silent, caught in deep thoughts. What Rachel had just told about her real mother – leaving a loved person in dire need without a word and then trying to reconnect – it sounded so much like what Maxine had experienced with her Chloe.

Like Chloe, Rachel had given this person another chance, and also made up with her. Still, Maxine felt guilty and understood what her girlfriend had been feeling through this re-bonding process.

"I'm glad that you and your mom managed to work things out." he mentioned with an honest smile before Rachel laid her head back on his shoulder and whiffed "Me, too!"

Some more minutes passed in solemn silence. Telling by the clock on the wall of the waiting area, it was about 2 in the morning. Besides the nurse at the counter, nobody was around or wandering the floors. So, it didn't came with a surprise that the slow yet heavy steps of William and Vanessa echoed through the halls and drew immediate attention.

William was holding his wife in a tight embrace as they approached Max and Rachel, who were already on their feet before they had even reached them. Just seeing the red-cried eyes and wet lines on his mother's face, Max immediately started to worry again.

"Mom? Will?" he said, obviously wanting to know what was going on, yet only received a "Come on, Max!" by his step-father.

Entirely puzzled, the young boy gazed at his girlfriend, who communicated with her look that she didn't know what was going on either, yet also didn't know what else to do.

William realized his step-son's concern and calmly said "Max, Chloe's gonna be fine. She's in post-op now and needs some rest. We better use the time to get some rest as well and visit her tomorrow morning."

Concurring with this idea and feeling very tired, Rachel took both of Max's hands to get his full attention.

"Look, Max, I think we all deserve a break," she spoke and gave him a short peck on his lips. "Let's get some sleep, and tomorrow, you can visit Chloe and I'll join you right after school. Okay?"

With some reluctance, Max nodded in agreement, whiffing a short "Okay." He would've loved to stay and be there for Chloe as soon as possible, but he also reasonably accepted that they all had a stressful day and needed some rest. Still, he had the feeling that something was off with his mom's and William's behavior and the wish to leave right away without telling him the details. But for now, Max simply blamed it on the fact, that they both had just to hear about Chloe's condition and the specifications of the surgery.

All four were now on their way to the parking lot, walking through quiet, empty halls and the enlightened darkness outside the hospital.

Her car standing a bit further away from the building, Max walked Rachel to the vehicle, were both embraced each other right away.

"Sorry that our date didn't go as planned…again," spoke Rachel with a sigh and – in return – got pressed closer by Max.

"Not your fault!" he answered, breaking the embrace for a long kiss. "And not everything was shitty."

With a softly chuckled "Yeah!" Rachel engaged another kiss. "G'night, Max! See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah," he replied, giving his girlfriend another kiss. "G'night! I'll keep you posted."

Though not wanting to separate again, Rachel heavy-heartedly broke contact and got into her mother's plain car. Both were keeping eye contact of yearning until the blonde drove off into the night and Max remained. He then went back to his parents to finally head home.

* * *

The whole drive back home could been described as strange. Max could hear the quiet sniffs of his mom while William was constantly clenching his hands around the steering wheel, paired with a few soft and soothing brushes over his wife's thigh.

Something was off. Way off. Maybe they tried to keep something a secret, but Maxine was neither dumb nor lacking empathy. The girl inside the boy's body realized that there was something going on. But should she push it. Should she pressure Maximillian's already tensed-up parents to give her an answer?

A decision was hard, and without her rewind-powers very risky. On the other hand, as Chloe's step-sibling, she had the right to know the truth. However, as the car drove and parked in the driveway of 44 Cedar Avenue, her entire mental struggle got interrupted. Especially, as Vanessa literally jumped out of the car and walked into the house in a fast pace, William following her right away as soon as Max had left the car, so he could lock it.

Being entirely exhausted, Max slowly shambled into the house as well. And neither in the mood nor having the strength to discuss some more info from his parents, he already wanted to go upstairs and crumble onto his bed, until he heard Vanessa's and William's whisper-yelled word.

"…-perienced it a dozen times. He wouldn't understand."

"He's fifteen, Vanessa! He's smart and would understand. Goddammit, they've been close for so many years now, he just deserves to know."

"Do you even know how high the psychological pressure could be on him? We both know that their relationship was way closer before they became siblings."

"Van…sooner or later he will learn the truth. Right now, we are in control of how he learns it."

"Fine!" suddenly blurted Vanessa and walked out of the living room, and as she almost collided with her son, who was still standing at the bottom of the stairs, she froze for a moment, staring at Max with bewilderment. William followed right after and both grown-ups realized that the cat was out of the bag.

Furiously, Vanessa turned towards her husband and said "You wanted to tell him, now go ahead…here's your chance!" before she made her way past her son and upstairs, where soon after a door got slammed shut.

Taken aback by this strange behavior, Max was gazing at his step-father with dilated eyes, stumbling "W-Will… What is going on?"

With a heavy sigh, the mid-aged man said "C'mon, Max. Let's sit down and talk, buddy." And both then went to the living room and sat down at the table, facing each other.

Sternly and with slight watery eyes, the red-haired man gazed deeply at his step-son.

"Max…I know this is gonna be hard to understand, but before I tell you everything, you need to answer me a question."

"O-okay!"

Brazing himself once more with a deep inhale, Will asked "Max, do you know if Chloe had sexual contact with a boy last night?"

Max had expected a lot, but not such an intimate question. True, Chloe wasn't really shy, talking about her sexuality, but…not every detail. Let alone, that his step-sister was dating Steph Gingrich at the moment, and the hell would she cheat on her. That's not her style.

"N-no…" answered Max truthfully, being a but nervous and flustered upon talking with his step-father about it. "She, uh…she practically dumped Eliot last weekend and just dated Steph after that."

Though the young teenager thought that this answer would've calmed Will, right the opposite happened. Instead, the mid-aged man sighed shakily and brushed with hand through his hair to keep his composure. Of course, this made Max even more curious as he felt that – beside the known injuries – something more happened to Chloe. And for a moment, Maxine feared that, like in this other reality – Chloe would die, eventually.

"Will, what's goin' on? You and Mom…you both act so strange, like…"

"They found traces on her, Max." it suddenly blurted out of Chloe's dad. "Marks on her thighs and…and sperm. She…"

Suddenly, Will's words got stuck in his throat as he couldn't say what needed to be said. But it wasn't necessary, since Max had already completed the puzzle by himself.

Aghast, he stared at his step-father, and it was right now that a flood of negative memories were flooding his mind. Memories that Maxine had buried deep inside and stayed there upon her mind constantly focused by the events of this reality. But now they were digging their way back to the surface like rotten, evil zombies, sinking their pointy teeth into her brain.

Max didn't know what to say. He was in shock, not able to understand how somebody could do this. At the same time he felt a mixture of feelings, reaching from numbness to pure need to kill.

Getting raped…Maxine had experienced a glimpse of it as Jefferson had drugged and kidnapped her. She remembered this powerlessness. This loss of control. God, she couldn't even tell what Jefferson had done to her while she had been out of it.

"Max…?"

William's sudden call ripped the brunette boy out of his stupor. He hadn't even realized how his nails had dug deep into the wooden table, leaving scratches on the sealed surface.

"I-I'm fine…" he just stammered and got up, walking straight into his room. The poor boy was done, overwhelmed and crushed by everything that had happened.

Chloe, Jefferson, Rachel, her powers to influence time, all the lives she had changed, her travel to this reality, being stuck in a boys body, her uncertain future and now this. It was just too much!

A barrage of sobs escaped his mouth and like Vanessa and William, he was about to cry himself to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The constant beeping of her cellphone ripped Rachel out of her deep slumber. She felt drowsy and in absolutely no mood to neither go to school or to travel to LA later that day to visit her father.

With a loud groan of annoyance she deactivated the alarm and then turned around again. But as much as she tried, sleep now avoided her and with every passing second her mind started to drift and flick through her memories.

She recalled last night. The date. Two truths and a lie. Her first kiss with Max. But also what had happened to Chloe and Steph.

Again, her date got – at least only partially – ruined. And though a dark side inside her told the young blonde to be mad about it, her rational side clearly stated that she had done everything right as she canceled the date and helped her boyfriend to get to the hospital.

Max…her boyfriend.

Rachel still couldn't believe that Max was finally her boyfriend.

How many times had she prayed for it? How often had she tried to talk to him, only to lack the courage? How many times had she ogled his figure during swim classes? How many times had she fantasized about him?

In her mind, Rachel imagined how Max would've stayed the night and would now occupying the empty space beside her. Her imagined self would shuffle closer to him and spoon him. Just to fantasize to feel his warm skin aroused the 16-year-old. And as her mind kept on weaving these seducing scenes, Rachel's hand found its way into her pajama pants.

With every passing second and every further brush, her breathing became more and more labored while an intense heat surged through her entire body.

A first soft moan escaped her mouth, making her bite her bottom lip to prevent further lewd sounds from emerging. Rachel felt that she was close on reaching her climax, and would've had, if Sera wouldn't have barged into her room.

"Rachel! It's already past eight! I know it was late last night, but…"

As the older woman realized that her daughter didn't move and that one hand was obviously buried deep under the blanket, her eyes opened wide.

"O-oh…" she gasped while her daughter stayed quiet and still didn't move. "I'll…uh…I'll give ya another five minutes, then. Just…hurry up, okay?"

The door closed again and Sera was gone, leaving behind an entirely out of embarrassment beet-red blushing Rachel Amber, who just rolled on her back and sighed a faint "Fuck!"

Her fantasy was gone. Her mood: gone. Her yearning for Max and an orgasm: was still there. She knew that, if she wouldn't release the pressure, she'd have cramps the entire rest of the day. And masturbating while visiting her fucked-up father? No, thanks!

Therefore – though she actually hated to do this – Rachel decided to finish what she had started under the given circumstances.

* * *

Besides of an almost forced and under stress induced orgasm, Rachel also disliked silence during the meals with her mom. Because this always meant that something was wrong.

Sharing the latest news, some gossiping or just having a nice girls-talk was common during the together-time in the Amber-Gearhardt household. But not this morning.

"Sorry for bargin' in," spoke Sera eventually, to break the quietness. But it didn't lighten her daughter's mood in the slightest.

"Ugh! I thought we had a rule, regarding entering someone's private space?" barked Rachel back, letting her with jam plastered toast fall onto her plate. "Fuck! That was so embarrassing!"

"Rachel, I'm really sorry, okay! But I need to be at work on time today, because I have to get you to the airport this afternoon and…"

"Still no reason to just stroll into my room without knocking! What if, some day, Max would sleep here and…y'know…be dressing…or something."

"It won't happen again, promise!" reassured Sera, giving her infuriated daughter an honest smile that actually calmed her down a bit and let them both continue their breakfast in silence, until another uncomfortable topic came up.

"You already thought about protection?"

"Ugh, mo-om! What the hell…?!" complained Rachel as she almost chocked on her bite. "Max and I aren't even there, yet!", but only received a nonchalant shrug by her mother.

"Just sayin'. Happens faster than you think and since you mentioned him, sleeping in your room…"

Now being annoyed again, Rachel lost her temper entirely and then stated "Y'know what? Yes, I know how it works! I know how sex works. Know where the babies come from. Know about protection. And even know – as you witnessed – how to masturbate. Good enough for you?" Then she jumped up, grabbed her stuff and went to school.

* * *

As Max woke up the next morning, he felt just numb and missed any further motivation to even get out of bed. Actually, he would've loved to stay there, if it hadn't been for his mother, who knocked softly on his door.

"Maximilian?" she spoke quietly and opened the door with caution as she didn't know how her son would react upon her intrusion. But nothing happened. Max simply didn't care but kept on staring into empty space.

Without saying another word, the brunette woman just sat down on the bed beside her son and tenderly brushed over his head. She knew that neither words nor pressure would help in this case. All her son needed right now was comfort, motherly closeness and time.

"Mom," he eventually spoke after some time. "Do you know the feeling, when you suffer with another person, though you never experienced the same?"

"Yes, Maximilian," she answered calmly, smiling soothingly at the boy. "That's called empathy. Some people have it stronger than others. And though such people never experienced the same, they share the pain with others. You had this since you were a little kid and as you met Chloe…it became even stronger." She took another deep inhale, trying to keep her calm as she remembered Chloe and Max in young years. How carefree they had been. Witnessing how this innocence had gotten corrupted by such an incident hurt her. Vanessa simply knew that things would never be the same as before. "Maximilian, I can't even imagine how you're feeling right now, but, though it seems unfair, you need to be strong for Chloe. She needs us. Now even more than ever. You got that?"

Maxine understood. She understood too well. In her reality, she had decided to stay with and save Chloe no matter what, in order to make up for those five years of absence. In her reality she had abandoned Chloe, but this won't happen here. Not this time! Not again! And if – somehow – she would find a way back, she would make everything different. She would use her powers to change everything and just don't care about the consequences. Selfish? Yes! But why bother, if everyone was selfish anyway?

But did she even want to go back to her own reality anyway? Rachel murdered, Chloe's life on a thin thread and tied to a huge hurricane that would flatten Arcadia Bay, Kate bullied and suicidal… As much shit as already had happened in this reality, the original one was way worse. And if the only real downside was being a boy, Maxine preferred this by a longshot.

Yes, Maxine was about to become selfish. She already had tried to think about everybody else and just earned suffer and even more suffer. No, now she had a chance to think about herself. What she wanted. What would make her happy. She would fight for Chloe and Rachel. Lots of people she once cared for where now out of the picture, so she would focus on making just them both happy.

Slowly, Max got up and backed away from his mom to gaze at her, saying reassuringly "I'll be there for her, no matter what!"

"That's my boy!" replied his mom, hugging her son one last time before she said "C'mon, Maximilian. Let's get ready and then head for the hospital!"

* * *

[Rachel]: _Hey Max, how's it going?_

For the umpteenth time Rachel stared at the display of her phone under the table, still waiting for the reply from her boyfriend to a message she had sent to him ten minutes ago. But so far, no text returned, which made her worry sick. But why did it made her worry anyway?

Ten minutes were actually nothing and there were at least a thousand good, non-anxious explanations why he hadn't answered yet.

The loud thud of a flat hand hitting her table ripped her suddenly out of her thoughts, letting the startled girl jump in her seat and gazing with bewilderment at her history-teacher, Mr. Edwards.

"Miss Amber," he said with a chiding tone, his sight shifting between her guilty demeanor and the phone in her hand, "please hand over your phone! You can have it back after classes."

With a sigh of defeat and a quiet spoken "Sorry, Mr. Edwards!" she gave the teacher her phone, who then walked back to the teacher's desk and put it inside one of the drawers before he continued his lesson.

Being slightly blushed out of shame, Rachel let her gaze wander around the room. Half of the students didn't even care, hence being in an almost half-asleep state. Victoria and her cronies, however, chuckled and made fun of her. Luckily, Rachel was self-conscious enough to ignore them. On the other side, there was Dana, sitting right beside her, who softly touched her arm and supportably whispered "What an asshole!"

Minutes started to feel like hours as Rachel awaited the end of the lesson, the moment she would finally get her phone back. Almost every second she glanced at the clock on the wall behind the teacher, trying to still follow his words as a distraction from the ever building up tension inside.

Five minutes before the lesson's end, she almost felt like jumping up and killing Edwards, only to finally get her phone back. She missed Max. His words. The reassurance that he was fine. That his step-sister was fine.

Finally, the bell chimed and the first thing she did, was storming towards the teacher's desk. But as much as she wished for it, Edwards kept on punishing her by, at first, pure ignorance and then with a patronizing speech about responsibility, respect towards her teacher and the curse of modern communication.

She did what her teacher had done before, ignoring it, using her acting-skills to pretend to have a bad conscious and guilt. Yet, inside, she gave him a mental middle-finger.

Eventually, Rachel had her phone back in her hands. Hastily she packed her stuff and left the classroom, her destination being the courtyard. There, she sat down on one of the empty picnic tables and activated the device.

To her relieve, Max had sent her several texts. But before she had been able to read them, someone sat down right opposite her. A sigh of annoyance escaped her mouth, which was followed by a quizzical frown as she realized that it was Victoria Chase, who was gazing at her with a fake smile.

It was obvious for Rachel that the blonde with the pixie haircut had some mischief in her mind. Mischief that's going to be involving her.

"How can I help you, Icky-Vicky?" she asked, chuckling in her mind as she witnessed Victoria's sugar-sweet demeanor falter for a second upon hearing this unpleasant nickname. But surprisingly, she quickly managed to regain her composure, signing to Rachel that she wanted something.

"Rachel, I had a thought…"

"Wow, you were thinking… Kudos, Vicky!" Rachel kept on mocking with cynicism, enjoying as her opponent's face turned beet-red out of anger as she tried to suppress it. Yet this time, it wasn't that successful as her voice became colder, fitting her sour expression.

"We both have a lot in common, you know. We…"

Out of a sudden, Rachel started to laugh out loud, making some of the students around shifting their attention towards them, which infuriated the other girl even more as she was getting embarrassed.

"Oh…oh, that's rich! You and me…ha ha…having somethin' in common…good one!"

"Are you fucking done?!" hissed Victoria in reply, her hands clenched into fists. And after a few seconds, Rachel eventually had managed to calm down again, wiping away some tears of joy.

"Oh believe me, Vicky, we're nothing alike."

"Au contraire, Amber! We are very much alike. We both want fame. You, as an actress. Me, as a photographer. But while _my _career is on a high, _yours_…well, you actually eff-ed it up pretty good by this quite…_inconvenient_ faux-pas of yours," stated the slight younger girl, pointing with her sight at the small Band-Aid that was covering the small wound on Rachel's forehead. "_But_…courteous as I am, I'm willing to step back as the main actress and give my understudy – hence you – her part in the play back. How does that sound, hmm?"

With a quizzical frown, Rachel scanned the arrogant girl, trying to read her demeanor. But so far, she couldn't call Victoria's motives behind her offer.

"What's the catch?" she eventually asked, crossing her arms and expecting the worst.

"The catch? Oh, please," scoffed Victoria, arrogance and superiority chiming with each syllable. "All I'm asking you in return, is your help with a project of mine."

"What help?" Rachel kept on asking, still not trusting her opponent's generosity and actually expecting the worst. But again, she got surprised by the answer.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Amber, but you're real model-material. You're very photogenic and, since I need to be behind the camera, want you to be my model."

What an immoral offer! On one hand, Rachel absolutely despised Victoria for what she represented. Arrogance, fake superiority, bullying, nonsensical elitism. The rich girl belonged to a class of people, who thought that they could get everything for money. Giving in to her deal, would support exactly that behavior. Yet, the young actress would do everything to be the main protagonist of this year's play once again.

So, was it worth to make a deal with the devil to fulfill a dream? For over a minute, Rachel thought about the offer, constantly ogled with an amused gaze by Victoria, who had obvious fun, seeing her biggest opponent at her mercy.

Eventually, Rachel made a decision.

* * *

[Max]: _I'm fine. Won't come to school today. Gonna be at the hospital._

[Rachel]: _kk. Gonna copy my notes for you. Mind if I join you after school?_

[Max]: _thx. Np. Can't wait to see you!_

[Rachel]: _Can't wait to see you too! Love ya!_

[Max]: _Love you too!_

With a warm smile on his face, Max put his phone back in his pocket, his heart thumping in his chest and his stomach filled with butterflies upon thinking about his girlfriend. A short, joyful rest from the depressing thoughts and atmosphere of the hospital.

For half an hour, he and his family were sitting in the waiting section, waiting for the doctor to emerge from Chloe's room again, after being done with the checkup.

"Max!" suddenly chimed Steph Gingrich's voice through the halls as she was approaching her girlfriend's family. Right away, Max jumped up and took the lanky girl in a tight embrace.

Though Maxine never met Steph in her own reality, she already had grown fond of the nerdy brunette, but not only because she made Chloe happy. Smart, geeky, polite, self-confident and without prejudice, Steph was a person, who could've been her best friend in her own reality as well. No wonder that Steph and Maximilian had already been friends.

"How are you?" Max eventually asked after breaking the hug.

"Well, got a concussion. So, lotsa headaches and dizziness. But I'm fine." answered Steph with a shrug. Yet, her demeanor darkened as she thought about her girlfriend. "I already heard that Chloe got it worse."

Not knowing how much his friend really knew, Max just heavily sighed "Yeah." It was clear that Steph would never turn away from Chloe, because of what had happened to her. Yet, he guessed that it could definitely have a deep impact on a relationship. Luckily, Steph didn't ask for the details, but sat down as well and greeted William and Vanessa.

"Heya, Mrs. Caulfield! Hey, Mr. Price!"

After Max's parents had greeted her as well, the three of them started a conversation. Max, however, stayed out of it, his mind a mixture of joyful memories of Rachel and the depressing thoughts about Chloe. He hadn't even realized how much time had gone by as a female doctor finally approached the small group of waiting people.

Immediately, everyone jumped up, eager to learn about Chloe's condition.

"Mr. Price, Mrs. Caulfield," she began to say, "I'm glad to say that your daughter is recovering pretty well from the surgery. I think she'll be up and about in a short time. However,…"

At first, everyone was just full of joy to hear the good news. Chloe was doing well and would eventually recover. But as soon as Max noticed the word _however, _his mood took another dive. Tensely he awaited the answer, which followed a moment later after the first surge of happiness had abated.

"However, the part of the brain, which is responsible for verbal communication, got injured and had swollen up. We were able to drain all fluids and prevented the build-up of an aneurysm. However, for the moment, Chloe has lost the capability to speak. If it's temporary or chronical, we can't say at the moment. Of course, we'll offer her a proper therapy and have high hopes that she'll be one day able to speak again."

Chloe was mute. A slight shocking diagnosis, yet better than to be bound to a wheelchair, or worse, dead. Maxine had experienced it. Had witnessed how her best friend and companion had to suffer due to her injuries from a car accident and was destined to slowly suffocate while sitting entirely paralyzed from her neck down in a wheelchair. So, being mute seemed to be a small price in comparison.

"Can we see her now?" asked William after processimg the news, wanting to finally see his daughter again.

"Of course," answered the doctor in return and added "But I recommend that you keep her stress level at a minimum. Every rise in her blood pressure could lead to a new aneurysm, which could cause even more damage. Therefore, I recommend that you enter her room in small groups of one or two people and, please, avoid any talk about the incident until she's better. Got it?"

Avoid the incident…

As if it wouldn't be already hard enough to tell Chloe anyway about that she had been sexually abused by a stranger, now keeping it a secret would be even harder. The knowledge about it hadn't left anyone unscathed and hiding the deep shock would be almost impossible. And to Max's dismay, he would be the first one to face Chloe as William and Vanessa explained him, that he would cause the lowest amount of stress and could prepare Chloe for the visit of her father and step-mother.

Unaware of what awaited him behind the door, Max timidly knocked against it and waited for an answer.

'_Ugh, idiot!' _Maxine chided herself with an internal face-palm. _'How could Chloe answer if she is mute?'_ Huffing out another deep breath, Maximilian opened the wooden barrier and walked inside with small steps.

The room was a typical, small hospital single-room. Sterile-white walls and furniture, with a big bed, a TV on the wall, a try-hard artistically picture, wall-in closet and a tiny bathroom. The only thing that was out of the order was the person that was lying in bed.

As soon as Max set his foot in the room, he was greeted by his step-sister with a warm, yet slightly weak smile.

Her head was wrapped in white bandages, where also some tubes were leading to a bag on the bedside, which contained a reddish fluid. IVs were running from other plastic bags to her arms, while a bunch of cables were linked to different machines.

"Hey, Chlo!" greeted Max with a timid smile, which was answered with a slight hand wave. "How're you doing?"

Yes, Chloe couldn't speak anymore. But since Max knew her for what felt like ages, he could easily read her mimics and gestures. In this case it was a shrug of her shoulders and a roll with her blue eyes.

_Been better._

She mustn't know!

How easy those words sounded, yet it was so hard to hold up to them. How was this supposed to work when Max's mind was constantly remembering him what had happen? How could he suppress those images of a Chloe, who was lying in the gutter while some pervert was having his way with her?

"I'm so sorry!" he eventually spoke with a weak, trembling tone as the brunette boy fought down his desperate sadness.

Chloe didn't know. She was unaware of the origin. So, she simply touched her step-brother's hand and gave him a wry smirk.

_Dude, I'm okay. Don't worry!_

Taking another deep inhale, Max tried to calm down enough so that his words wouldn't come out like a giant whimper.

"I'm glad you're okay! We were really worried."

Though being mute, Chloe could still make basic sounds, like a scoff.

_As if…_

"Chloe…we all care about you. Mom and Will…they couldn't sleep all night. Fuck, we all cried because of you!"

Chloe sighed and her gaze dropped. She understood.

_Maybe you're right._

"They're here and wanna see you. And Steph…"

Hearing her girlfriend's name, the injured girl's eyes widened as it came into her mind that Steph had also been hit by the attacker.

"…she's fine too. Just a slight concussion."

Suddenly, Chloe – still holding Max's hand – pulled at it, signing him that she wanted to be hugged, which the young boy did right away, being cautious to not rip off any cables or tubes.

A new surge of emotions flooded Max's body and he couldn't do anything else than to shed some tears and sniff into the blonde's shoulder. It took them a few minutes to eventually break the embrace and, to his surprise, Max even received a kiss on his cheek.

_You can send in the others, _signed Chloe by bobbing her head towards the door.

Max understood her. Always had, always will. No matter if she was mute or not.

* * *

For Rachel, school was a much needed necessity that existed only to give her the much needed knowledge and skills for her later life. However, this didn't mean that she had to like school, which she actually didn't, apart from some assorted classes and the one or other friend. Bottom-line: school sucked, especially when you waited for it to end.

And as the last chime of the bell sounded and signed the end of the last lesson, Rachel had already packed her stuff and literally sprinted out of the classroom. She simply had to get the earliest bus to the hospital, which left the Blackwell bus stop only five minutes after classes.

Someone called her name, but she ignored it. She was actually supposed to head home and drive with her mom to the Newport-Airport, but she simply gave a damn about the visit of her father. Max was more important to her right now. Actually so important, that she also needed to talk with Chloe, in order to settle their little feud.

She reached the bus in time and not 20 minutes later she finally arrived at the Arcadia Bay hospital and after some few exchanged texts with her boyfriend, she eventually reached the right floor.

Until today, Rachel hadn't found out why she always felt so mesmerized by Max. What caused this tickling sensation in her belly. Or why she felt so empty and alone without him. Normally, she always had been a free and independent girl, not minding spending some time without a trusted person. But with Max it was different. It was like they were destined to be together. Like there was a bond between them, which linked their souls together.

Since the first time she met him, the need to see and spend time with him had increased, almost driving her insane. And now that they're finally together, it had reached new heights, because as soon as their sights met, Rachel ran towards her boyfriend, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him dearly.

It was like being hooked to a drug. Joy and relieve, short: a massive amount of endorphins, flooded Rachel's entire being as soon as her lips touched Max's.

She didn't care that everybody around was staring at them. She gave a damn about what they were thinking. It didn't even matter that they were in a hospital. Rachel was simply confident enough to don't give a shit about other people's opinions.

Only with reluctance, she eventually broke the comforting touch, immediately missing the contact.

"I missed you!" she whispered, the sound of her voice having an undertone of desperation. "How are you?"

'Fine' or 'decent', that would've been the answers she would've wanted to hear. But just getting a shaky sigh paired with a quiet "I'm okay." wasn't really what she had wished for, because it sounded different than in the text message she'd received before and told her immediately that something was wrong.

But she wouldn't push it. The whole situation was already fragile from the start and Rachel had the feeling that even the slightest disturbance could escalate it. Luckily, Steph joined the two of them as she emerged from Chloe's room.

"Steph!" she greeted her friend, hugging her as well. "How are you doing?"

"Hey Rach! I'm actually fine…given the circumstances." answered the brunette with a shrug, smiling wryly. "Guess you're here to pay Max a visit or does this girl here still have a place in your heart?"

"For you, there'll always be some space!" remarked Rachel with an added playful wink. Yes, she liked Steph like a sister and, honestly, had already had the one or other indecent thought about her, making the blond girl sometimes questioning her sexuality. But for now, she was committed to Max entirely. "So, how's Chloe?"

It was a normal question out of curtesy, yet Max went stiff and stayed silent, which caused the two girls to frown at him since both expected him as her step-brother to answer. But since it didn't happen, Steph took over.

"She's fine… Well, except that she can't speak anymore. Got a pretty bad blow to the head which caused some brain-damage."

"Shit!" muttered Rachel, feeling really sorry for Max's step-sister albeit their differences. "Hope she doesn't freak that I visit her."

"We can come with you, if…" suggested Steph, but got interrupted by her friend right away.

"No. I think, I wanna do this alone and finally settle this little feud between us."

With a soft smile she gazed at her boyfriend, who nodded in agreement and let her girlfriend go alone, being proud that she was about to take the moral high ground.

Though not seeming to be nervous, Rachel actually was almost dying inside. Timidly and after a deep inhale she knocked and then entered the by Chloe occupied room.

It wasn't quite a hostile glare that welcomed the blonde, yet more a questioning one, signing that Chloe hadn't expected to see her.

"Um…hello, Chloe! How are you?"

Chloe couldn't answer, she knew that, but as Max's step-sister rolled with her eyes and turned away it was like _"Fine. Get to the point!"_

With slow steps, Rachel walked towards the bed and said "Listen Chloe, I-I just want you to know, that I never had anything against you. Shit got outta hands that day and…I'm sorry that I brought you in some trouble. But since I and Max are officially together now and you and Steph are a thing now too, I…I just want us to get along. Y'know…peace 'n' stuff."

Slowly, Chloe turned her head towards Rachel again, looking at her a bit suspiciously.

"We don't have to be friends, just…accept each other's presence," added Rachel quickly and waited for a response…any response. Which came as Chloe lifted her hand from the mattress and offered it to the other girl.

A wry smirk was forming on Rachel's face as she shook Chloe's hand, saying "Thank you, Chloe!" which she answered with a scoff.

No, they weren't friends…yet. But Rachel felt that they would get along pretty well as soon as both of them would take the time to get to know each other better. In the end, it was a soft knock on the door that ended this solemn moment.

* * *

"Excuse me, kid…" chimed suddenly a strict, male voice that let Max freeze in his seat in front of Chloe's room.

Maxine recognized it right away. Had learned to dread it when her Chloe had been around as well as welcome it when Jefferson had captured her: David Madsen!

In this reality, David had never occurred in any form, yet, neither as security guard nor as Chloe's step-father. It almost seemed like he wouldn't exist. Not that Maxine had really missed him anyway. But as Max raised his sight he saw why David wasn't an employer at Blackwell: he was in fact a police officer for the ABPD.

Still, he looked like the same: moustache and short-cut hair, yet the police uniform made him appear even more intimidating.

"Is this Miss Chloe Price's room?" he asked, gazing with a frown at the brunette boy who stared at him.

It took Max some time to shake off this stupor, only to stammer at the officer "Uh…y-yeah. Sorry…Sir! I…uh…I bring you in."

"Thanks!" grumbled David Madsen in reply and followed the young teenager, who knocked softly at the door and cautiously opened it, hoping in silence that Chloe and Rachel had found a common ground for a truce. So, he was more than happy to see them both relaxed and smirking, which however turned into the opposite as they saw the police officer behind Max.

The tall man simply walked past Max and addressed the injured blonde. "Miss Price, I'm officer Madsen and I need to ask you a few brief questions about last night's incident…under four eyes, of course."

Emphasizing those last words by throwing a stern glimpse at Max and Rachel, who got the gist and left, the policeman and Chloe eventually were alone.

"Miss Price, let me at first express my sympathy about what happened to you. I swear that we will find this pig who did this and bring him to court!" he said with determination, which got answered with a slight nod.

"Now," he then said, readying pen and paper, "the doctors informed me about your current condition and I'll try to keep the questions simple enough, so that you can answer them with _yes_ or _no_. Got it?"

Once again, Chloe answered with a nod, already feeling pretty tired.

"Alright. I already asked Miss Gingrich some questions, so I'll take her answers as a basis for your questions."

He paused for a moment, awaiting the young girl's confirmation once more before he continued.

"Miss Gingrich told me, that, before the incident, you two were having a date at the _Italian Pizza Palace_. Is that correct?"

Chloe confirmed it, memories of the evening slowly appearing in front of her eyes.

"And then you both walked through the town, back to Blackwell Academy?"

Once more she nodded, the images in her mind getting more and more detailed. Because of the exhaustion, she drifted in some kind of a trance-like state, reliving the last night like a movie in front of her eyes. Only instinctively she answered the police officer's questions.

"And you didn't realize that someone was following you?"

This time, she negated with a shake of her head, remembering how hers and Steph's emotional moment got violently interrupted by the attacker. How Steph had went down with a pain-grimaced face. How she froze upon this sudden assault.

"Miss Price, you're still with me?" came the unexpected question, forcing Chloe to come back to reality and gaze directly at officer Madsen. "I know you must be feeling pretty bad and want some rest. Just one more question and I'll be on my way again."

Gathering her strength one last time, Chloe nodded and tried to hold open her already heavy eyelids.

"Can you identify the attacker? Details, special features, anomalies, a voice, something like that?"

The moment before the baseball bat had hit her. Yes, she remembered that. Weakly she signed at the notepad in the officer's hand, telling him that she needed something to write. Of course, he followed that wish, putting the pen between her fingers and the pad under her hand.

Slowly and almost unreadable, Chloe scribbled three words on it.

_Masked. Blue eyes._

Then, she drifted off again, into a state between being awake and asleep.

"Thanks for your help, Miss! Rest now, you need it!" said David Madsen with as much honesty as possible, honoring that, despite her exhaustion, Chloe had answered all of his questions and even had given him a clue.

The young girl didn't really notice as he left the room upon being caught in reliving her memories again. It was like a nightmare during a fever.

The fresh scar on her head stung as she recalled the moment the baseball bat had hit her head, and for some time she was surrounded by darkness. But as she hoped that the nightmare was over, she got merely disappointed as a glimpse of light appeared right in front of her, a distorted eerie voice chiming from it.

"_Why did you do this, Chloe?"_

"N-no!" she gasped, already expecting the impendent doom.

"_You always act like a badass and hurt others. You shouldn't have done this! Now it's time that you're treated like the whore that you are!"_

"N-no…! Pl-…please…!"

She felt a stinging, hot pain in her crotch, making her groan in pain as it occurred in constantly repeating waves.

"_Fuck! For a fucking whore, you're tighter than I thought. Guess we have to cut this short, huh?"_

In a glimpse of a second Chloe's tear-filled eyes shot open. Panicky her gaze shifted throughout the entire point of view. Her breathing was labored and close to hyperventilation, while her head hurt like someone was hitting it continuously with a hammer, the insanely beeping machines beside her bed not making it better. She felt how some liquid began to run down over her lips, carrying the metallic taste of blood.

Barely being able to unclench her hand from the bedlinen, Chloe searched for the call-button that was supposed to lie close to her right hand. Luckily, she found it after a few seconds and pressed it multiple times like the call-button of an elevator, hoping that the often you press the button the faster the wished result would occur.

Chloe now knew what had happened to her, her mind having buried up memories that once had been locked away in her sub-conscience. And right away she felt disgusted and spotted.

A first sob escaped her mouth, followed by another one. A big pressure was quickly building up in her chest, begging for release, which eventually occurred in a loud scream of desperation.

* * *

"Thanks, Rach!" spoke Max out of a sudden as he and Rachel were sitting in front of Chloe's room, waiting for the police officer to finish the interrogation.

"What for? Making up with Chloe?" she scoffed in reply, adding a friendly smirk, already knowing what her boyfriend was referring to. And as she received a confirming nod, she took Max's hand and added "I actually like her and was pretty pissed at myself that I fucked it up with my stupid jealousy. I should've trusted you both, but I didn't, and now it's on me to make it right."

'_Did Rachel actually take the moral high ground again?!' _thought Maxine upon Rachel's confession, increasing the feelings she had for her even more.

Max would've loved to kiss her again. However, as the blonde's phone suddenly began to ring, she broke the contact and groaned "Shit!" before she took the call.

"Hey, Mom! Listen, I…"

Rachel wasn't able to finish her sentence as Sera's angry voice started to blurt through the speaker, which caused her to wince. Even Max could hear, that Rachel's mother was pretty mad at her daughter, who immediately jumped up and walked along the corridor to get more privacy for this rather uncomfortable conversation.

At about the same time, officer Madsen emerged from Chloe's room, saying "She's just fallen asleep. Please tell her parents that I'll contact them soon to ask some more questions. Have a nice day!"

Short, cold and rather unfriendly, that was how Maxine would've described David Madsen's common conversational tone. And it wasn't any different in this reality.

Steph being gone for a last check-up, Rachel having a heated conversation with her mom, his mother being at work for a few hours and William out to buy some groceries for the next days, Max was now alone. But in a way, he didn't mind. He actually enjoyed the peace, knowing that Chloe was resting now and was going to better.

Some people passed him, probably on their way to visit another patient. A nurse emerged from a room, only to vanish in another one. Slight chatter could be heard from the reception close by, maybe some nurses who exchanged the latest news. Then, the sound of a vending machine came into the mix. All those, for a hospital, normal noises carried something calming with them and forced Max's eyelids to become heavier with every second, until an unnerving clicking sound was disturbing the peace.

Curiously, Max looked around in order to find the source of this annoying noise, realizing soon, that it came from above him.

As Max saw that the red emergency-lamp of Chloe's room was constantly blinking, he immediately jumped up. And it was just at this moment that his step-sister's loud, eerie screams broke the peaceful atmosphere entirely.

He stormed into the hospital room and witnessed in horror how Chloe was flailing out, tubes and cables flying around like whips, accompanied by the bleeping cacophony of the machines she was hooked on to.

Actually, the young boy didn't know what to do, but just acted on instinct as he jumped on his step-sister and tried to pin her down.

"Chloe…!" he spoke with gritted teeth as he had to endure the one or other hit and had to muster all his strength. "You…you need to calm down! Please!"

He knew what was at stake. Every further second stress could be her last one. And just this knowledge alone let tears of desperation shoot up in his eyes.

"Chloe, please! I'm here! Sshh! I'm here! I'll always be there for you!"

Luckily, his words worked!

The flailing ended. Powerless, Chloe's legs came to a rest while she weakly flung her arms around Max as a sign that she needed soothing closeness. And though the worst part was over, Chloe kept on weeping into her step-brother's shoulder, welcoming the soothing contact.

Max realized that Chloe must've somehow found out what had happened to her. So, who could blame her for freaking out like this? He couldn't. He understood. Or better: Maxine understood. This reassuring and comforting was a solemn moment for both, Chloe and Max, which was eventually broken as a bunch of nurses and doctors stormed into the room and pulled the young boy away, only to throw him out a second later. Too weak to protest or even to resist, both teenagers had to accept their fate.

At the doorframe Rachel was already awaiting Max with a shocked demeanor, also pulling him in for a comforting hug right away.

* * *

The sky above and the lights of civilization beneath her. Normally, Rachel loved flying. Not just because it was bringing her closer to her beloved stars, but also because up here, above the clouds, you saw things way differently than down on earth.

She was staring out of the window, watching the ascending stars on the horizon. She tried to find comfort and advice in them. Tried to figure out why the world could be such a cruel place sometimes. Max had told her the truth about Chloe's incident. What the attacker had done to her. You hear about it in the media or read it in books. But knowing that something like this actually happened to someone you personally know, was an entire different level.

So, leaving those beloved persons with their burdens was even harder. Especially, if the reason was something nonsensical like the visit of a father you don't like.

A tear strolled down the young girl's cheek, which she wiped away instantly. It was hard for her to hold up the act, until her phone chimed and she read a message that even painted a faint hopeful smile on her face.

[Max]: _Chloe's gonna be ok. Miss you like crazy! Talk to you tonight. Love ya!_ _Max_


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_December 23__rd__ 2010_

_Dear Maximilian,_

_lots has happened since my last entry… _

_Sorry, I'm getting pretty sloppy with the messages, but it's actually damn hard to put school, family, diary, thinking of how to get back to my reality and an awesome relationship with Rach under one roof, without going totally bonkers. _

_But, I won't let you hangin' there, buddy! So, let's get started._

_Chloe is finally out of the hospital! Took a lot of convincing and pleading to the doctors to let her go, so that she can spend X-Mas at home. Considering the circumstances, she's actually doing really great. Though she still can't talk, she learned sign-language pretty fast and now talks even more than before. (I made you a detailed instruction. You don't have to use, but only have to understand it. It's pretty simple, so don't sweat!)_

_She also coped well what had happened to her. We all gave her every support and even more. Steph, though also having a tight schedule, she spends almost every free minute with her. _

_Mom, Will and Chloe finally got their shit together and we're a real family again._

_And Rachel… Well, let's say that Chloe has a new friend._

_Well – how stupid that may sound – the incident brought us all closer together than ever! We're there for Chloe, and will always be! _

_Another (rather shitty) topic is, how I should feel about to spend the upcoming holidays at your…our dad's place. I already know that he seems to be an asshole in this reality, but in mine, he was just awesome. So…I simply don't know how to deal with this. We'll see…eventually… Gosh, I'm gonna miss Rachel so much! Would've loved to spend my free days with her instead of my dad in Seattle._

_So far, Maximilian._

_Maxine, signing off!_

* * *

A pair of stinging blue eyes was ogling her from head to toe, taking in every curve of her body. In his mind, he was already peeling off every piece of garment that was hiding her soft skin, increasing his arousal even more. The blue checkered button-shirt, gone. The black top…gone. The black bra, which's straps were visible on her shoulders…gone. The black, partially ripped jeans…gone. And also the, to the bra matching black panties, which he had seen as she had crouched…gone as well. He wanted to touch her. Wanted to kiss her. Wanted to lick…

"Nathan!" suddenly chimed Rachel's voice, ripping the young boy out of his vortex of lustful thoughts. Timidly, 15-years-old Nathan Prescott looked into the girl's beautiful green eyes, almost melting in her sheer presence. "Are you even listening?"

"S-sorry!" was the light-brunette boys stuttered reply, his gaze dropping onto the sheet of paper that was lying in front of him.

With a loud sigh, Rachel dropped the pen and brushed some lose strands of blond hair behind her ear with the blue feather ear-piece. "Nathan, why are we doing this here? You know all that stuff already. So…why? It's not like I don't appreciate the money for tutoring you, but…"

"I love you, Rachel!" it suddenly blurted out of him and the now out of embarrassing blushing girl sighed once more and shook her head before packing her stuff.

"Nate, you know that I have a boyfriend…"

"Fuck him!" he spat out furiously. "He's nothing! He can't give you what you deserve!"

Just letting Nathan's rage bounce off of her, Rachel closed her bag and once more turned to him, still being calm. "Max gives me everything I need, and that's neither money nor a high social status. But yes, I'm definitely gonna fuck him, some day!"

Being stunned by Rachel's bold behavior, the young boy stays silent, trying to gulp down his anger towards his opponent.

"Nate," the blonde eventually said reassuringly, touching Nathan's left shoulder. "Maybe instead of imitating your asshole of a father and waving around with your money, you should open your eyes and see who actually tries to give you what you're lookin' for."

"Like who?"

Giving him one last playful wink and a bob with her head towards the seat, which would normally be occupied by Samantha Myers, who was crushing on the slightly brunette boy, Rachel shouldered her bag and left, saying "Happy holidays, Nate!"

'_Phew, dodged that bullet!' _she told herself, now being on her way to the dorms, where she was about to face another uncomfortable event, before she was finally allowed to enjoy her holidays. Though, without Max, they're already as good as fucked anyway.

A very cold gasp of wind, accompanied by some snowflakes, was hitting Rachel's body as she was opening the school building's main door. Tightening the around her neck wrapped red scarf and zipping close her winter coat, the young girl walked over the, with snow powdered empty campus. Also empty, were the dorms, since it was the day before Christmas and most students had already headed home.

Still, Rachel tried to keep a low profile, glimpsing several times over her shoulder before she knocked at Victoria's door.

Luckily, the dorms stayed quiet, only behind the door she could hear some shuffling before it got opened and the blonde got ogled by Victoria Chase with a chiding glare.

"Finally! Already thought you'd back out of our deal."

"Believe it or not, Vicky," countered Rachel, walking past the other girl and started to peel out of her scarf and coat, "some people might actually have more important stuff to do than posing for your shit. Now, don't leak into your panties and let's get started!"

"Sure," replied the blonde with the pixie-cut and closed the door, only to end up with an SD-Card held under her nose after she had turned around, causing her to give her opponent another suspicious glare. "What's that?"

Glancing deeply at Victoria, Rachel said "If we're doing this, I've got one condition."

"Oh please…" already scoffed the arrogant girl, but the stern glimpse and seriousness that got radiated by Rachel's green eyes instantly told her that this was not negotiable. "Fiiiine, name it!"

"This little session here stays between us! This means that you won't tell anybody about this and that I'll keep the photos. Hence, you're gonna use my SD-Card and will hand it to me right after we're done! No laptops. No hard drives. Got it?"

"But…" Victoria tried to counter, but got cut off right away.

"Not. Negotiable! Take it or leave it."

Shifting her gaze between Rachel's stern eyes and the memory device in front of her nose, Victoria eventually annoyingly sighed "Fiiine…" and took over the card, only to replace it with the one that had already been in her expansive camera.

Actually, Victoria's entire photo-equipment was state-of-the-art and worth a fortune. Set-lights, sturdy tripod, digital camera with huge display, high-end photo-printer… The rich girl could easily open up her own studio with all that stuff.

Rachel envied her for this, though she'd never admit it. As a DA, her dad was sort-of well loaded, but the young 16-year-old had sworn to herself to never accept any money from him anymore. Rent and living expenses were directly transferred to her mom, and if she wanted something, she had to buy it from her allowance or work for it.

Having settled the conditions, Rachel nodded in satisfaction, put her bag on the comfortable white couch and started to undress. Piece by piece of her garments fell on the sofa, until only her bra and panties were covering her being.

"I thought I said nude, not half-dressed," just mentioned Victoria dryly, while she was still fumbling with her camera. "And throw your stuff somewhere in that corner or it'll ruin the setting!"

Sighing in annoyance, Rachel grabbed her stuff and threw it a few feet away, letting her bra and panties following, right away.

"Satisfied?" she added, causing the other girl to look past her cam, directly at her. But instead of replying anything, she just kept on staring at her model with a frown. The naked blonde followed her sight, which led to her crotch, and then shifted it back at Victoria, giving her an agitated glare while resting her hands on her hips.

Immediately, the pixie-blonde focused back on her camera again, yet couldn't suppress a snarky comment.

"And I thought you had style, Amber."

But Rachel wasn't someone who gave a thing about what others thought about her or her style, especially when it came from someone like Victoria Chase.

"Well, I'm not a real city-kid and like some bush in my garden. Besides…" She then closed in on Victoria, making the arrogant girl feel uncomfortable as she – naked as she was – leaned closer and whispered in her ear. "…you should do somethin' about all those bad lookin' pimples down there, Vicky!"

With a giggle, she then walked back to the couch and slumped down on it, watching with amusement how Victoria gnawed on that big bone she had thrown at her. Maybe the rich girl had never taken a close peak on another woman's private section under the shower after swimming, but Rachel already had. Why? She didn't really know. Maybe, just out of curiosity. Maybe, because she like seeing other girls. But whatever the reason might be, right now it had already worked in her favor.

Timidly and flustered, Victoria peeked over her cam, asking "You ready?"

"Just say the word, Icky-Vicky!" replied Rachel, basking in the fact, that her being and behavior made the other girl feel uneasy.

"Just…just do your thing and I'll take the shots."

And so, this secret photo-session began.

Rachel posed, using every bit of furniture she could find in Victoria's room, while the other girl set the lights and camera to perfectly frame her.

Now it was Victoria, who envied Rachel. Her body. The talent of posing perfectly. Her easygoing way to deal with this situation. How she could easily put the audience under her spell. Of course, she would never admit that.

And Rachel? Well, she was just enjoying herself. Posing like a model, acting…it was just her thing, and witnessing Victoria being intimidated the sweet icing on the cupcake. And in some way she asked herself, if she was arousing the other girl, evident by these intense blushes while she had tried some rather lewd poses in order to provoke her. Nobody would see those pictures anyway…except maybe Max… So, why care?

Eventually, the photo shooting came to an end and Victoria started to flip through and analyze the fruits of her work on the display of her camera.

The pictures were just amazing, and the young photographer would've just loved to look at them on a bigger screen, yet was forced to just use the tiny display.

"Damn! Those are really good!" it suddenly chimed behind her as Rachel – now already wearing her undergarments again - was looking over her shoulder.

"Thanks!" was Victoria's plain yet serious meant reply as she gave the other girl a faint glimpse over her shoulder.

Together, those two watched the bunch of photos, which were purely artistic, not smutty or pornographic. Rachel couldn't actually do anything else than admiring Victoria's good eye and talent. How she had played with light and shadow. How she had managed to hide the lewd details in all but one picture, though Rachel had provoked it, so that more than just one picture should've been eventually PG-18. But now it seemed like, Victoria had been very serious about this session, leaving a slight pale taste on her mouth as they had reached the last picture.

"Okay, Vicky," said Rachel as she backed a step away, "I hate to admit it, but you got hella talent."

Swiftly, Victoria now turned around and looked at her with suspicion and crossed arms, not trusting the peace. But Rachel just kept smirking at her and eventually reached out her hand.

"Card, please!"

Huffing out in annoyance once more, the blonde with the pixie-cut handed over Rachel's SD-Card, feeling a bit sad that she wasn't allowed to keep the pictures, because truth be told: Rachel was an awesome and very sexy model, she'd love to work with some more… But she would never tell her that.

"Thank you!" she spoke over-politely, adding as she packed the card away and to put on the rest of her garments, "'t was fun! Hope you're gonna hold your part of the deal and talk to Mr. Keaton right after the holidays."

Still being conspicuous, Victoria just shrugged and returned "Sure!" while following every one of Rachel's movements with her glare.

But Rachel wasn't satisfied with that answer and closed in on the other girl, her politeness entirely gone. "We had a deal! I help you out, gettin' the gist of nude-photography for your essay and _you_ give me back my position as the lead-actress. So, don't you dare fucking me over!"

"I won't!" snipped Victoria back, "Because I'm sticking to what I promised, though you already altered the deal by keeping the pictures to yourself!"

This comment, however, only induced a scoff by Rachel. "You really thought that I'd trust you with those pictures? Wake up, Victoria, and take a look in the mirror! Happy holidays, Icky-Vicky!"

Dumbfounded, Victoria watched how Rachel closed shut the door, leaving her eventually alone. Her head was actually spinning out of confusion. Yes, she disliked Rachel. But her rival was right, it had actually been fun to work with her.

Shaking her head to get rid of those thoughts, the slim blonde took her camera again and turned it on. After a few touches on the screen, Rachel's pictures appeared again. Swiftly, she flicked through them once more and stopped at the one, which showed more than it should have.

A strong heat flashed through the young photographer's body, making her feel things that she actually didn't want to feel, which caused her to switch off the camera and pull out the emergency backup SD-Card that had been stuck in the second slot of her expensive camera.

For a few minutes she looked at the small memory-device between her fingers, thinking about what to do with it, until she decided to put it in her camera bag for the time being.

* * *

The cozy warmth of a fire, burning in the fireplace. The mixed scent of gingerbread and incense cones in the air. A Christmas tree plus decoration.

Yes, Maxine loved Christmas, no matter in what reality. And it was even more awesome when you add three very much loved people, a slumber party and a parent-free house into the mix.

"Pizza's here!" exclaimed Steph as she walked into the kitchen with a stack of pizza-boxes. The saucy brunette, who wore some comfy grey sweatpants and a sweater, put them on the counter and gave Max, who was preparing some snacks, a friendly bump with her shoulder.

Max followed her with his gaze as she was swaying back onto the couch, where Chloe was sitting and playing a videogame. The moment the nerdy girl slumped down beside her girlfriend and put a big kiss on her cheek, painted a warm smirk on the young boy's face.

Chloe and Steph – beside Rachel and his parents, being Max's most important persons in his life – were still together and recovering from the events, two months ago.

Steph hadn't changed that much. She was still the nerdy super-student of Blackwell and Chloe's girlfriend, though sometimes it seemed that there was some sort of coldness between them, that he couldn't put a finger on. Max knew that Steph loved his step-sister over everything, albeit what had happened to her. So, why these awkward moments?

Chloe, however, was an entire different case. She had changed in a way. Yes, she was strong and unbroken as always, attending therapy, learning sign language in record-time, trying to stay up-to-date with school-stuff, though she had been suspended. She even had found comfort and distraction by repairing the old truck her dad had given her. And to underline her rebellious, punky side she had decided to keep the shaved part of her head, where the scar from the surgery was clearly visible, short and wore now a one-sided undercut style.

But besides the upsides, she sometimes also seemed absent, staring into empty space or just avoided other persons from one moment to another…even Steph. No, Chloe wasn't alright. But she was fighting and everybody gave her as much support as possible.

Deep inside, Max just hoped that this evening would give Chloe some additional strength to fight this inner darkness that the incident had brought upon her.

"So, what have you planned for tonight, Max?" asked Steph out of a sudden as she glimpsed at the young boy over the headrest of the sofa, rendering him dumbfounded as he didn't know what she meant.

"Uh…well, I thought, we have a nice evening and…"

But Chloe got what her girlfriend was onto about and paused her game with a huff, only to put the controller aside, stretch her arms over her head and form a ring with the thumb and the finger of her one hand and repeatedly sticking the finger of the other hand in and out.

"Subtle, Chloe…" commented Steph, which induced Chloe to nonchalantly shrug before she continued her game. "But yeah, that's what I meant."

Once again, Max was overthrown. Yes, he wanted to have sex with Rachel someday, but until now, they had just gone so far as to kiss each other and touch their bodies on decent places, his girlfriend's behind being the farthest as he had dared to go.

"I-I don't know… We…uh…we haven't talked about sex, yet. Why? Did she say something?" he answered, scratching the back of his neck while blushing.

"No, not exactly. But she did mention that this would be the first night you two are spending together and she was…well…kinda excited about it?" said Steph in reply. "And you know that there's more to sex than just talking and stickin' your penis into a vagina, right?"

Of course, Maxine knew that there was way more to sex than talking and coitus. But since she also hadn't been involved in any sexual relationship in her reality as well, the young photographer inside a boy's body lacked the same experience. Honestly, Maxine somehow wished now that she and Warren would've had at least a one-night-stand. But on a second thought, she was also glad that she hadn't done it, because she always wanted her first time to be special, which also meant having it with a special person…like Rachel.

The doorbell chimed and luckily interrupted this uncomfortable conversation. But this wasn't the only upside since Max knew who had just arrived. Hastily, the teenage boy went for the main door and opened it, revealing a with white snow powdered Rachel, who didn't waste any time and pulled her boyfriend in for a long kiss.

"Gu-uys!" yelled Steph from the living room, "Getcha tongues outta each other and close the freakin' door!"

With a giggle, Rachel pulled away and finally stepped inside.

"How was your tutoring?" asked Max and closed the entrance while the blonde was busy undressing her thick winter garments.

"As always," she replied with a shrug. "Y'know Nate. Always edgy and trying to hump my leg. Though this time I told him to finally back off and try his luck with Samantha Myers."

Nathan Prescott. Maxine had made her first real acquaintance with this psycho in her reality right after he had almost killed Chloe and was about to get physical with her in order to make her shut up about this incident. But she had also learned that his violent and aggressive behavior mostly originated from fear and mistrust. In some way, she had pitied him, but could also never forgive him that he was responsible for Chloe's and Rachel's demise. Short: Maxine hated his guts!

"Hey," Rachel then spoke soothingly, putting one hand on Max's shoulder as she realized his tensed up demeanor. "I know you can't stand him. But he really tries to be better, and…I also decided to not tutoring him anymore, 'cause I'd rather spend this time with you and shit on that money."

Just being glad about this development, Max hugged his girlfriend once more as a sign of gratitude and love, before both walked into the living room. There, Rachel got immediately greeted by Steph and Chloe, who both embraced her as well.

"You guys set up dinner while I'm gonna change into some comfy stuff!" she announced and walked upstairs to Max's room.

"And I'm gonna take a piss," added Steph a few seconds later, following Rachel and left Max alone with the task of setting the location since Chloe was still busy with her videogame.

With a sigh, he prepared some blankets, put the pizzas, snacks and some drinks on the couch table and then slumped down beside his step-sister, watching her play while waiting for the other two girls to return. Surprisingly, Chloe paused her game out of a sudden and turned towards Max as she used sign-language to communicate.

_Max, I need your help!_

Aghast, the young boy stared at his older step-sibling. Chloe and asking for help? That was something entirely new…even for Maxine.

"O-okay. What is it?"

_Y'know…since this shit happened, I and Steph haven't spent one night together and… _

She paused for a moment, huffing out some air.

_Gosh, I haven't even done it to myself yet, because everythin' feels so strange when I touch my pussy. And what if this happens with Steph? What if she shit-cans me?_

Was this the coldness Max hadn't been able to put a finger on? Was this the reason Chloe and Steph sometimes acted so strange? Nonetheless, Max had to help the both of them, because he knew that they both loved each other and that this deep bond shouldn't be destroyed by something that a messed-up psycho had done.

"Well, have you talked with Steph about it?"

The drop of the young blonde's gaze and the shaking of her head was everything needed to answer the question in merely a second.

_I'm afraid, Max. What if she takes it the wrong way?_

Chloe and being afraid? That was rare and only happened when it was about something or someone very important, underlining how precious the relationship with Steph was for Max's step-sister.

"Honestly, if you don't talk with her about it, you'll never know."

Sadly, Max couldn't give her a more proper answer as the person in question and Rachel were audibly coming downstairs again and entered the living room a few seconds later.

* * *

With a heavy sigh of exhaustion, Rachel let the trekking backpack, which she had picked up at home after school, glide down from her shoulders and opened it in order to retrieve some comfortable clothes, containing of some tight grey sweatpants, a band-shirt and a thin hoodie.

She had just stripped of her pullover and t-shirt as the door behind her got opened and then right away closed and locked again.

Taken aback, Rachel spun around, only to see Steph standing there, timidly gazing at her feet.

"Rach," said Steph with a, to the other girl unknown shyness, "can I talk to you for a sec?"

Though the brunette lesbian tried to keep her sight focused somewhere else, Rachel still realized the partially excited glares Steph was throwing at her, only by her bra covered, chest.

"Sure! 'sup, Steph?" she eventually replied with a smirk, putting on her band shirt before she then undressed her jeans. Rachel never minded if somebody was seeing her body and somehow she even enjoyed it that someone was admiring it.

Getting rid of those lewd thoughts that were already forming in her head by taking a deep breather, Steph focused and said "It's about Chloe. Has she talked with you about…us?"

Rachel had just pulled up her sweatpants as she sat down on Max's bed and patted the space beside her, signing Steph to sit down, which she did right away.

"She wasn't very specific, just mentioned between the lines that something was off."

"Off?" Steph scoffed, before it broke the entire problem out of her. "Totally fucked would be a better description. Since this fucked incident, Chloe seems so fragile that I don't even dare to touch her. Don't get me wrong, I love her like crazy, but…"

Suddenly, her heated speech stopped and turned into some sort of melancholy.

"I don't wanna hurt her, y'know. I just don't know how to handle this and am afraid that I could fuck this up. I never felt something like this for another person and losing her would just…"

Steph didn't need to complete the sentence as she got take by Rachel into a tight embrace.

"Don't worry," she returned with soothing confidence, "Chloe loves you. I bet she just needs some time to get back into groove."

"So, you say I should wait until she comes around?"

"No," was Rachel's answer as she broke the hug, putting on a toothy grin. "I'd say we tease her a bit tonight to spark the fire. And then let's see what happens."

* * *

As soon as the two couples were back together, they started the movie and ate while watching. Rachel was cuddling close to Max, while Steph did the same with Chloe.

The movie they'd chosen was actually trash, so it wasn't surprising that the hard-tried seriousness of the story was often accompanied by cynical comments and a lot of laughter. But all good things tend to have an ending, and so did the movie.

During the break, snacks and drinks were refilled and full bladders emptied until everybody was back in his or her place.

"Game time!" announced Rachel joyfully and pulled out a stack of cards.

Already familiar with the blonde's games, and not very fond of them, Chloe just groaned and rolled with her eyes. Yet, her girlfriend and Max didn't complain at all. On the contrary, Steph even gave her a slight bump, saying "C'mon, grumpy cat, it'll be fun!" after she had received a mischievous wink by Rachel.

Eventually, Chloe complied and everyone listened as Rachel explained the rules.

"Okay, girls, the rules are pretty simple. I bet you all know _Truth or Dare_. But in this variation, we all pick a card. The highest card wins, the lowest card is the loser. The loser then has to decide what it's gonna be, truth or dare, while the winner asks the question or gives the task. Got it?"

_Do we really have to play this shit?_ asked Chloe, once more rolling with her eyes. Rachel's simple answer was a toothy grin and the pile of cards under the strawberry-blonde's nose, who eventually picked a card with a sigh, Steph and Max following her.

"Okay, guys, on the count of three. One…two…three!" announced Rachel and everybody turned around the drawn play card.

"Damn!" muttered Max as he had just a two of spades and Steph was the winner with the king of hearts.

"Okay, um… Do we keep this PG-13 or do we do the mature kinky version?" she asked, earning a deep blush by Max, a groan by Chloe and a slight timidly spoken "Your choice!" by Rachel.

Most people, who meet and talked with Steph would think that the nerdy girl was kind of reserved and disciplined beyond everything. And though this was true, she had the tendency to loosen up pretty much among people she really liked. Plus, that her sexual activities had been reduced to a minimum, because of the late stress. So, her restrains to keep the game 'kids-friendly' were almost zero.

"Truth or dare, Max?" she simply said at first and received an insecure spoken "Uh…truth…I guess."

"Okay. Max…" Steph began the question, filling the air with anticipation as everybody was awaiting the question. "What do you like most? Short hair or long hair?"

Huffing out some air out of relieve, Max took his time to think about the question, even glimpsing a few times at Rachel as he tried to find out if his answer would snub her, but decided that it wouldn't.

"Short!" he answered. "Like really short. I dunno why, but…uh…I-I kinda like it."

Immediately, Steph's and Chloe's gaze shifted towards Rachel, trying to figure out the blonde's reaction upon this confession. However, the self-conscious girl simply smiled and they already knew that something was going on in her head. But what exactly, would remain a secret.

"Alright, next round!" she called out and right away the pile of cards made its round among the four friends.

"Ugh, I just suck at such games!" groaned Max as he had once more the lowest card. But this time, Chloe was the winner and again, Max chose 'truth'.

Always being the mischievous one, Chloe couldn't get around asking a question that would be embarrassing for her step-brother. Especially, in front of her girlfriend.

_Dude, you still got that teddy bear, which's button eye you swallowed as a kid?_

'_Maximilian did that too?' _asked Maxine herself, always wondering how much parallels there were between her reality and Maximilian's. _'Sadly, I haven't found Captain, yet. Guess, Maximilian wasn't the type to keep a cuddly friend at his side.'_

"Uhh, no. He's somewhere up at the attic…I guess."

"Aww! I would've loved to meet your cuddly friend from your childhood!" said Rachel to everyone's surprise, which caused Steph to add "Well, he got you now, Rach. Bet he can't wait to cuddle you tonight!"

Max just blushed, and this time, Rachel joined in, both giving each other timid glimpses, while, silently, the next round began, with Chloe being the loser and Rachel the winner. And again 'truth' was the chosen option.

"Okay, Chlo, here's a hard one. If you'd never met Steph, who would you've hooked up with instead?"

Chloe immediately froze. She expected a lot of stupid questions, but this one was just mean. Who would she have hooked up instead? A question she could easily answer, but what would Steph say to this? Thankfully, her girlfriend was very tolerant and intelligent, and threw in with a soft smile and tender touch to her reassuring reply. "Chloe, no matter what you say, it's just a game and I'll still love you!"

Taken aback by this commitment of love, Chloe's lips began to tremble as she mouthed with them _I love you, too! _before she leaned in and kissed the brunette passionately.

Rachel watched this romantic moment with a wide smile, before she cleared her throat to get the two lovers' attention again.

_Sorry! _signed Chloe and then answered, _I think I'd make a threesome with you and Max._

"Wow!" was Rachel's answer, and somehow she didn't even mind this idea. But she wouldn't tell her friends that. Instead, she joined in with Steph's snickering and added "Good answer, Chloe!" causing the mute girl to make an overacted bow.

Max, however, remained silent and stunned. All those answers and allusions actually let his head spin. Three girls and one boy… The perfect mixture to cause a total emotional chaos in the poor boy's head. It was even so much, that he hadn't realized how he just lost another round. Only Rachel's friendly voice was actually be able to pull him back into the here-and-now.

"Max?"

"Y-yeah?"

"You're on!"

"Again?!" he complained, mumbling a faint "Truth." as the young wanted to pout. But a sweet kiss and a tender stroke over his cheek was everything needed to swoosh away those dark clouds.

"You know what they say: bad luck in games means good luck in love…or something like that." she added, which lightened up Max's mood in an instant. Which was much needed upon the next question by his girlfriend.

"Okay, Max. Fuck, kill, marry. And the people of choice would be me, Chloe and Steph."

"Ohh, good one, Rach!" cheered Steph while she was holding her stomach as she couldn't hold back her laughter. Of course, Max's good mood was gone again, but he also wouldn't back out on this. No, he would go all-in!

"Well," he answered confidently towards a shit-eating grinning Rachel, "I'd kill you for asking this stupid question. I'd fuck Steph, because she's cute. And I'd marry Chloe, because we're practically bonded since we first met each other."

'_Boom! Mic-drop!' _thought Maxine as she was looking at the entirely stunned demeanors of Steph and Chloe. Just Rachel was the only, who actually kept on laughing.

"That…that was a good one! Gosh, I love ya!" the blonde said and kissed the young boy again. Even after she had stopped with her laughter, the three other teenagers were still staring at her. "What?!" she just replied with a shrug. "It all made sense. Killing me for this question? Totally legit. Fucking Steph? Oh yeah, she's hot! And marrying Chloe? Geez, I'd give everything to walk her down the aisle with that grumpy face of _'Oh my god, I'm fucked'_!" After having calmed down enough, she then continued "And besides, it's just a game. And we'll spice it up a bit by making the next rounds _dares only_!"

Was Rachel crazy? Probably not. But definitely insanely eccentric. She could always motivate people or cheer them up, had lots of ideas and creativity, yet as soon as something wasn't going her way, she would let you feel it. A real force of nature, how Sara had called her. Everybody knew that she was like that, so they played along as long as the game was still fun.

Now it was Steph's turn and Chloe was the one who had to think about a dare.

_I dare you…to go to the glass door and show your insanely cute, naked butt to the world!_

"Yes, ma'am!" confirmed Stephanie, got up and pressed her naked behind against the cold glass of the backyard door. "You want some too?" she then exclaimed in addition, turning her bare backside towards her friends. Chloe and Rachel were whistling, but Max just tried to stay calm and not to get aroused.

'_Geez, being the rooster in the hen house is hard as hell. Never thought that such sleepovers can get that…out of control. I better take a break and splash some water into my face before my head explodes.'_

"I'm gonna take number one. Be back in a jiff!" the young boy said and went to the guest toilet downstairs after Steph had taken her seat again and Rachel wanted to let the stack of cards go another round.

_What the fuck?! _signed Chloe with a frown, exchanging a glimpse with Steph, who however just shrugged. But what got her attention even more, was when Rachel pulled four cards out of the stack, looked at them and then handed them out, earning her a pair of suspicious glimpses, which she just answered with a wry smirk and a wink.

Not a minute later, Max returned and they continued the game.

"You gotta be fucking shitting me!" he cursed as he had the lowest card for the felt umpteenth time.

"Well, looks like you're at my mercy again," completed Rachel the disaster with a mischievous undertone.

Yes, the other two girls were aware that Max's girlfriend had cheated to provoke this situation, yet they were also aware that she had done it with a reason, which got even more evident as she revealed her task for Max.

"I dare you to touch my boobs!"

The young boy's jaw dropped to the ground. He literally had awaited everything that would've put him into an embarrassing position, but not such a so much wanted opportunity. And the whole situation got even stranger as Steph began an encouraging chant – which Chloe supported by slapping her thigh in the rhythm – and Rachel presented her chest even more.

"Max! Max! Max!..."

His trembling hands were all sweaty as the young boy slowly raised them. And though it was very much evident that he wanted to make contact, Rachel got impatient, grabbed his hands and pressed them onto her two mounts, which got underlined by Chloe's and Steph's cheerful applauds and whistles.

But Max and Rachel didn't pay any attention to it as they were captured into their own perfect world. Blue eyes locked with green ones, they both shut out everything that wasn't in their small, private bubble.

For Rachel, this moment was everything she had longed for in over a week now. Her plan had worked out perfectly. Since they started this relationship, the blonde had realized how diffident Max had been, regarding taking the intimacy any step further. So, she always had to come up with the one or other plot to force him to his luck. Besides that she loved to play these little games to get the young boy out of his comfort zone from time-to-time.

In his turn, Max felt entirely petrified. Yes, Maxine knew how her own breasts had felt, yet this was entirely different. Even being younger than her 18-year-old female body, Rachel's mounts were already slight bigger and felt firmer. All-in-all, Max became more and more aroused, which caused his cheeks to turn redder and his pants to become tighter in a certain spot.

Chloe and Steph, however, watched this somehow awkward scene with bewilderment, until Max's step-sister softly poked her girlfriend in the side, signing her that it was time to call it a night.

"Well, guys," the brunette then spoke louder than necessary, in order to get the other couples attention, "it's been an awesome evening. But I'm pretty much done for tonight, so…"

"Have a good night, you two!" responded Rachel and swiftly got up to give her two friends a warm hug, plus Steph an extra reassuring smile.

Max, still remaining in his spot, said "G'night!" as well and followed with his gaze how his step-sister and his best friend went upstairs, before he shifted his attention back to Rachel, who was now closing in on him with a seductive smile.

"So, Mr. Caulfield, you liked what just had in your hands?"

Shyly, Max nodded, averting his gaze from his girlfriend. He then heard some rustling of clothes and as he raised his sight once more, the young teenager realized that Rachel had taken off her shirt and was now standing in front of him with a bare chest.

Once more, his jaw dropped, his breathing stopped and his heart just made several attempts to burst out of his throat.

"You like 'em?" cooed Rachel with a honeyed voice, once more placing the entirely petrified boys hand on her mounts.

Max now felt every detail. The warmth, the shape, every little bump. His arousal now reached unknown heights, which was even for Maxine a new experience. Panic was about to emerge from within, especially upon the thought that they were still in the living room, where everyone could catch them in the act.

"R-Rach… Wh-what if someone…?"

Right away – and before he could kill the mood – the blonde put her finger on Max's mouth to silence him and then said "Chloe and Steph are upstairs and probably busy as well. And your mom and Will won't be back until after midnight. Believe me, I know those fancy attorney Christmas shindigs from my dad. Soo…"

Her eyes burning with desire, Rachel shifted her seat onto Max's lap, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. Soon, her lips began to draw a mischievous smirk and she whiffed playfully "Is that a stick in your pants or are you enjoying what we're doing?"

Gasping a faint "Shit!" Max tried to squirm away from his girlfriend, who, however, held him in place.

"Don't you dare, Mr. Caulfield!" she spoke and started to move her hips in rhythmical moves.

Max didn't know what to do anymore. Rachel had taken over control and it was obvious that she wouldn't stop. But did he want it to stop anyway?

Mentally, Max took a step back and watched. Watched how Rachel leaned back and moaned silently in pleasure while, once more, presenting her bare breasts in front of him. Watched every detail of her stunning beautiful body. Additionally, he imagined how it would be if she'd be entirely nude. How it would be if he'd be nude, as well.

"Oh Max!" Rachel groaned as she let her lips once more collide with her boyfriend's, ripping the brunette boy out of his stupor.

'_Wowser, this is so hot! Gosh, I've never been that horny before!' _thought Maxine and finally regained control over her male body and began to let her hands roam over the blonde's perfect skin, while replying her humps by moving the hips as well.

Rachel's breathing – at first just being slightly labored – increased with every passing second and every grind, making her moan even louder so that she was forced to bury her face in Max's shoulder as her climax hit her hard. Pressing her closer, Max couldn't hold back anymore, too, not caring that he was making a mess in his pants.

Slowly, the movements stopped until both teenagers remained tightly entangled, their bodies heaving heavily upon the fresh exhaustion.

"That was…incredible!" Rachel panted, snuggling her head even more into her boyfriend's shoulder, who, in return, answered "I love you, Rach!"

Again, Rachel backed away a bit, her stunning green eyes transfixed on her loved one's blushed face, and then let another intense kiss follow.

"I love you, Max! And…uh…sorry that I made a mess in your pants!"

"Guess, yours aren't in a better shape." he mentioned with a scoff, causing both of them to look at their crotches, which both had a clearly visible wet stain.

"Fuck!" cursed the young girl, but let a timid giggle follow right away. "We better go and get ourselves cleaned before your folks come home."

"Wait! Didn't you just say that they wouldn't be home before midnight?!"

But Rachel simply shrugged with a mischievous smirk, put on her shirt and made her way to Max's room to change clothes, leaving the young, bewildered boy behind. Rachel Amber was still a mystery, a real force of nature: unpredictable and wild.

'_I better get myself cleaned up before I don't get this icky stuff out of my hairs anymore.'_ thought Maxine as she decided to stop figuring out his girlfriend and headed towards her next destination being the bathroom.

* * *

After a shower, cleaning is shorts from the white spots and brushing his teeth, Max went back to his room, only a towel covering his lower section. Rachel was already waiting for him with her pajamas in her hands, ogling his appearance with a another smirk and planted a kiss on his cheek before she continued her way to the bathroom to make herself ready for the night as well.

Still being befuddled from what had happened before, Max put on his pajamas and climbed into his bed, already welcoming its comfortable warmth. Minutes passed, during which he was recalling those last amazing hours…this more than perfect evening.

Eventually, Rachel returned. Freshened up and now wearing a slight pink shirt with some red-black checkered pajama pants. Already having another smile on her lips, she crawled into Max's bed as well and then cuddled herself close to her boyfriend under the blanket, one arm draped over his chest.

"It was an awesome evening," she eventually mentioned, her eyes closed as she simply enjoyed the closeness to her beloved Max, who responded with a half-whiffed "Yeah!"

Then, silence occurred. In the dimly light of Max's room they could hear the wind outside, blowing snowflakes against the window. The afar bark of a dog. The soft breathings of each other.

"I just hope that Chloe and Steph found their groove again," mentioned Rachel with a sleepy voice out of a sudden.

For Max it was clear that Steph must had talked to Rachel, her best friend, about their relationship problems as well, like Chloe had done with him.

Once again, he replied with a "Yeah," and then added, "Those two have been through some tough shit and need the break. But I know Chloe. She's smart and brave, and probably just needed a slight push into the right direction."

* * *

'_I'm such an asshole!' _thought Chloe to herself as she was lying in the darkness of her room, staring at the ceiling with an angry glare while Steph was slumbering right beside her. For hours she was now already lying awake in her bed, pondering about what had went wrong.

'_I'm a fuckin' coward. That's what's wrong!"_

Right after she and Steph had agreed to give Max and Rachel some space, they both had decided to go to bed and maybe finally to have sex again.

The desire had been there! But after she had made herself ready for the night and it then was Steph's turn, nearly a billion negative thoughts had rushed through the young blonde's mind, so that, in panic, she had decided to pretend that she was asleep. She had heard Steph, whispering her name. She had heard her sighing deeply in frustration. And had heard these quiet sniffs. And still she hadn't been able to overcome her trauma or at least to take Max's advice and talk about it. Chloe was sure that, one day, she would lose her beloved Steph because of that and this fact was keeping her awake as it was making her almost insane.

Some more time passed. Chloe heard how the main door downstairs got opened and the laughter and chatter of her dad and Vanessa sounded through the room. They obviously were totally wasted…or at least Vanessa was, since Will had been declared to driving duty.

"Whoa, easy, darlin'!" chimed Will's amused voice, accompanied by the footsteps on the wooden stairs and her step-mom's constant giggles.

'_Yep, totally wasted!'_

Then, the footsteps stopped and some indistinct whispering could be heard. Someone stepped close to Chloe's room door and after a few seconds moved on to Max's room.

"The coast is clear!" whisper-yelled Vanessa with a heavy voice, once again, snickering repeatedly as she and Will finally went into their bedroom and shut close the door.

'_Oh gosh, she's so wasted.'_

It didn't take long that the snickering turned into wild moans, which caused Chloe to cover her face and huff into her hands.

'_You gotta be fucking shitting me!'_

It wasn't the first time she heard those lewd sounds, and mostly they simply annoyed her. But tonight they were almost unbearable and she couldn't wait that they would already end, which happened after some time.

Then, it was quiet again and only the sounds of a snowy winter-night reached the young teenager's ear. She felt edgy, her body tickling and her mind about to get short-circuited. She had to do something. She had to chill. She had to release an inner pressure that was driving her crazy.

Smoking Weed? Not when Steph was around.

Drinking? No booze available.

Hurting herself? Not her style.

Only one thing came into her mind that could help her to release this summed up pressure. She had to do it! She had to overcome this nonsensical fear of intimate contact…now or never!

Gulping down this unwanted reluctance, Chloe shuffled close to Steph and started to kiss the back of her neck and let her hand roam around her girlfriend's body, right away avoiding any layer of fabric.

With a soft groan, Steph slowly woke up, at first trying to squirm away from the given affections. But as soon as her mind had booted up enough, she realized what was going on and turned towards her beloved girlfriend, giving her a drowsy, yet love-struck smile before she returned said affections with passion.

It didn't take long for their clothes to be scattered around the bed. And even though Chloe's reaction to the first intimate contact was a wince and welled-up eyes, Steph immediately was there for her and helped her poor traumatized girlfriend to pass this threshold. They took their time. No matter if it would take all night. But eventually, they both managed to climb this high mountain of self-doubt and despair, finally releasing all their worries and fears in one big, much needed, blow. So that, in the end, both lovers spilled tears of joy, and were able to fall asleep, arm-in-arm and finally united again.


End file.
